Andy Murray overcame a difficult first round draw to progress past Feliciano Lopez at the Valencia Open 500 on Tuesday.
The top seed and defending champion cruised through the first set but needed to come from a break down in the second to book his place in the second round with a 6-3 7-6 triumph.
Murray broke the world number 31 for a 3-1 lead early on and it was enough to take the set which he wrapped up in half an hour including five aces.
Lopez came under pressure again early in the second but responded from 0-30 down to hold in the third game and then broke the Scot in the next to take a 3-1 lead.
But Murray continued to attack his opponent’s delivery and it was only a matter of time before he levelled it up, doing so on the first of two break points in the seventh game.
Lopez hit back, forcing Murray to save two set points of his own at 4-5, but the world number four held his nerve to level and it eventually went to a tie-break, where the Briton quickly established his superiority before clinching victory on the first of five match points.
