Andy Murray defeats Marius Copil in straight sets

The world number one, who is continuing his return from an elbow injury after reaching the semi-finals in Barcelona, eventually forced a late break in a tense opening set before his superior power came through against the 26-year-old Romanian.

Copil, who will move into the top 100 next week, had initially put up some strong resistance, having saved two break point chances on his opening service game of what developed into a tight first set.

With both players holding, Murray went ahead at 5-4, which put more pressure on the Romanian as he served to stay in the set.

The world number one did not let his chance slip, forcing Copil into a long return from the corner before another fine passing shot from Murray brought up a set point.

Copil put a return into the net as the Scot claimed the first set in 47 minutes.

Despite the momentum now being with Murray, Copil continued to find his range, holding a testing fourth game having squandered a 40-love lead to level at 2-2 on serve.

Murray, though, slowly upped the tempo, forcing another deuce on Copil's next service game that saw a double fault followed by a break chance, which this time the world number one claimed when the Romanian's backhand was long.

The British number one, set to also play in Rome ahead of the French Open, soon moved 5-2 up with a straightforward hold which left Copil serving to save the match.

However, Murray, who will turn 30 next week, was forced to wait until the next game after another brave response from the world number 104.

Murray, though, made no mistake on his serve, forcing Copil into errors to complete his straight-sets win in one hour and 24 minutes after another long return by the Romanian.

Round 1: Ryan Harrison (USA) beat Bernard Tomic (AUS) 7-5 4-6 6-2

Round 1: Ivo Karlovic (CRO) beat Roberto Bautista-Agut (SPA) 7-6(4) 6-7(9) 7-6(7)

Round 1: Nicolas Almagro (SPA) beat Tommy Robredo (SPA) 6-3 3-6 6-1

Round 1: Diego Schwartzman (ARG) beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas (SPA) 6-1 6-3

Round 1: Benoit Paire (FRA) beat Pablo Carreno-Busta (SPA) 6-3 6-4

Round 1: Borna Coric (CRO) beat Mischa Zverev (GER) 6-3, 7-6(5)

Round 2: David Goffin (BEL) beat Florian Mayer (GER) 7-6(3), 6-0

Round 2: Andy Murray (GBR) beat Marius Copul (ROM) 6-4, 6-3

Round 1: Gilles Muller (LUX) beat Tommy Haas (GER) 6-4, 7-6(6)

Round 1: Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA) beat Lucas Pouille (FRA) 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-3

Round 2: Dominic Thiem (AUT) beat Jared Donaldson (USA) 6-3, 6-4

Round 1: Alexander Zverev (GER) beat Fernando Verdasco (SPA) 7-5, 6-3