Murray is looking to end the season on a high in London later this month

Andy Murray began the defence of his Valencia Open title with a straight-sets win over Spain's Feliciano Lopez.

The Briton, seeded number one, had to work hard for a 6-3 7-6 (7-1) victory in one hour and 27 minutes, and goes on to face Juan Monaco in round two.

Murray beat the Argentine in the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters last month on his way to winning the title.

The Scot, 23, then joined his brother Jamie to beat Lopez and Fernando Verdacso 6-3 7-6 (7-3) in the doubles.

Second seed Robin Soderling was among the other winners as he saw off Albert Montanes 6-1 6-4, while fourth seed David Ferrer beat fellow Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-3 and Nikolay Davydenko defeated Javier Marti 6-2 6-2.

Argentine David Nalbandian beat Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic 6-3 6-4 in the day's final match.

606: DEBATE How will Murray fare in Valencia?

Murray went into his opening match with a 3-0 record against Lopez, his strength on the return and pass having proved too much for the Spaniard's attacking game in the past.

The Scot took control once again when he converted what would be his only break point of the set to move 3-1 in front, and he went on to see out the set comfortably after half an hour.

Murray's hopes of a swift victory received a blow when Lopez got the first break of the second set in game four, and despite recovering to 4-4 the Briton was soon under pressure again.

Lopez had two chances to level the match at 15-40 in game 10 but Murray reeled off four points in a row to get out of trouble, and then dominated the tie-break to seal a hard-fought win.

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