British world number four Andy Murray shook off a bit of rust to outclass Italian Andreas Seppi 6-4 6-4 on Sunday and move into the third round of the Indian Wells ATP tournament.
The fourth-seeded Scot, although not at his very best, broke his opponent in the seventh game of the second set when the Italian pushed a backhand volley wide before wrapping up victory in 86 minutes.
Murray ended the match with a crunching forehand winner down the line on a sunny, breezy afternoon in the California desert and he will next meet either Russian Igor Andreev or American Michael Russell.
"It was a pretty scrappy match today," Murray, 22, told reporters after competing for the first time on the ATP Tour since losing in the second round of last month's Dubai Championships.
"There wasn't a particular point where I felt in a lot of trouble but it's just because you've not played for a while. It was pretty breezy on the court and it's sometimes quite difficult to get into a rhythm.
"Obviously I started the year well in Australia and you remember the feelings you had there," said Murray, who was beaten by Roger Federer in the Australian Open final in January.
"You're not necessarily hitting the ball as well as you were, as well as you have been in practice. I don't know if it's tension. You're just a bit surprised, maybe.
"But, saying that, when you haven't played for a long time, you have to expect not to play your best the first match out. I'm sure next round out I'll feel fine."
The opening set on the showpiece stadium court at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden was a patchy affair with Seppi being broken twice and Murray once in the first three games.
However, the Briton took command when he converted his third break point opportunity in the seventh game with a forehand winner and clinched the set in 48 minutes when the Italian netted a backhand.
The second set went with serve until Seppi buckled in the seventh game and Murray, beaten by Spaniard Rafa Nadal in last year's final, held serve to close out the match.
"I did well here last year but I would love to win this time," Murray said in a courtside interview. "This is a great tournament with great weather, and a really nice place to be."
World number one Roger Federer was scheduled to launch his title bid at the ATP Masters 1000 event against Romania's Victor Hanescu later on Sunday.
In other matches, sixth-seeded Swede Robin Soderling crushed Evgeny Korolev of Kazakhstan 6-2 6-4 while Australian Open semi-finalist and ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France hammered Australian Marinko Matosevic 6-1 6-3.
Spaniard Nicolas Almagro upset 23rd-seeded Croatian Ivo Karlovic 7-5 7-6 and Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis eased past Frenchman Arnaud Clement 7-6 6-1.
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