By Saj Chowdhury

It was easy for Murray in Madrid

British number one Andy Murray swept aside Czech opponent Radek Stepanek 6-4 6-1 to book his spot in the second round of the Madrid Masters.

The games went with serve in a tight first set before an unforced Stepanek error handed Murray the first of two break points and the set.

The second set was a complete contrast with Stepanek broken twice, unable to cope with the Scot's fierce strokes.

He now faces 15th seed Juan Ignacio Chela who had a first-round bye.

"There's no question, this is one of the best matches I've played since I've been on the Tour," said Murray after the 62-minute contest.

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"Not one of my service games went to deuce and I never faced a break point.

"I knew after I broke him to win the first set that I was favourite to win the match."

Murray had a long lay-off with a wrist injury earlier this season but looked sharp as he reached the Moselle Open final in Metz earlier this month.

He made a second-round exit from last week's Kremlin Cup, but made a solid start against Stepanek despite squandering three break points in the second game.

The 20-year-old kept his level of play high and broke Stepanek in the 10th after the Czech could only put fierce Murray baseline shot into the net.

He smashed down six aces in total and had a 92% success rate on his first serve, while his opponent won just 56% of his first-service points.

Perhaps the most telling statistic was the fact Stepanek won only 18% of his total return points, with the power of Murray's groundstrokes proving too much.