Murray coasts on comeback

Murray: Straight sets win on return

Also see

• Tennis Results
• ATP Schedule
• Tennis on Sky
• Messageboards

Andy Murray marked his return to action on the ATP Tour with a routine 6-3 6-1 victory over Daniel Gimeno-Tarver at the Valencia Open.

The world number three needed just an hour to see off the challenge of the Spaniard and reach the second round of the tournament.

Making his comeback from a wrist injury, the Brit unsurprisingly looked a little rusty on his first competitive appearance since September 20.

However he still coasted past Gimeno Tarver to set up a second-round clash with Leonardo Mayer, who upset Russia's Igor Andreev 6-3 6-3.

Sharp start

Despite his lengthy lay-off, Murray certainly looked sharp in the early stages of the contest, with two breaks of serve putting him 3-0 up in a hurry.

Gimeno-Traver did manage to get back one of the breaks to make it 4-3, though that proved to be as close as he got to worrying the top seed.

The wild card lost his serve for a third time on his way to surrendering the first set, and quickly fell 5-1 behind in the second.

Murray, who had not played since winning both his singles matches in Great Britain's Davis Cup defeat to Poland in Liverpool, duly served out for the victory on the Stadium Court.

"At first I struggled a bit to get into the match because I had been so long without playing, but gradually I felt more comfortable," said Murray.

"My goal is to get more rhythm and confidence back in my game."

In other action in the opening round, fifth seed Gilles Simon of France eased to a 6-4 6-2 triumph over Russian Igor Kunitsyn.

Fellow seeds David Ferrer and Gael Monfils also progressed in the event, managing contrasting victories over Nicolas Almagro and Marcel Granollers respectively.