Andy Murray eased into the third round of the BNP Paribas Open with a 6-4 6-4 win over Andreas Seppi in Indian Wells.
After his surprise defeat to Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic last time out, Murray, seeded four, looked more focused as he eased past the inconsistent Italian.
The world number four's serve improved after a hesitant start and a solitary break in the decider proved enough.
Murray next plays America's Michael Russell, who defeated Russia's number 32 seed Igor Andreev 4-6 6-3 6-2.
"It was testing conditions but hopefully I can play better in the next round," said the British number one.
"I thought after the first three or four service games I began to serve big. But I was leaving my backhand in the middle of the court and he began to dominate points.
"But I won in straight sets so that is obviously good."
Both players looked out of sorts at the start as Murray moved 2-1 up off the back of three consecutive breaks of serve.
The Scot registered two straight-sets victory over Seppi last year and soon had his opponent chasing as he asserted his authority.
He was foiled in his first attempt to serve out but two aces, the first that was allowed to stand despite a hint of a net cord, saw him across the finish line in the tenth game.
Seppi showed resolve to stay to clamber back from 0-30 down in the third game of the second, but a deep return from Murray forced a break-point in the seventh.
The Italian appeared in control of the subsequent rally but planted a routine backhand volley between the tramlines.
Seppi continued to produce occasional eye-catching winners from the back of the court but they never looked frequent enough to wrestle a break back from Murray.
Elsewhere, top seed Roger Federer, playing in his first Tour match since beating Murray in the Australian Open final, was taken to three sets by Romania's Victor Hanescu before triumphing 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-1.
Federer will play Marcos Baghdatis in round three after the 27th-seeded Cypriot beat France's Arnaud Clement 7-6 (9-7) 6-1.
Swedish sixth seed Robin Söderling brushed aside Evgeny Korolev of Kazakhstan 6-2 6-4.
The competition's ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France also made efficient progress as he overcame Australia's Marinko Matosevic 6-1 6-3.
But Tsonga's fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils was a high-profile casualty as the 12th seed was defeated 1-6 6-2 6-3 by Germany's Simon Greul.
There another upset on Court Six where Spain's Nicolas Almagro claimed a 7-5 7-5 (7-5) victory over Serbian 23rd seed Ivo Karlovic.
World number 36 Janko Tipsarevic retired hurt from his match against Thiemo De Bakker.
The Dutchman, who is ranked 44 places below Tipsarevic, was 3-2 up when his opponent dropped out.
Spain's Tommy Robredo and Feliciano Lopez both also advanced to the third round.
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Bookmark with:
What are these?