Andy Murray began the defence of his Cincinnati Masters crown in emphatic style, with an elementary straight sets win over Nicolas Almagro of Spain.

The newly-installed world number two was forced to grit his teeth in the first set, eventually coming out on top in a tie-break, but cruised to a 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory once in the ascendancy.

Murray struggled to cope with the big-serving Spaniard in the early stages, but had the measure of the world number 33 in the second to complete a routine victory.

“He served great in the first set and I have to say, he is a very good player,” said Murray. “He was serving very well and I had to hang in there in the first set but once I won the tie-break I was confident I would be alright.

“I do like it here in Cincinnati and I’ve got a pretty good record here – the ball comes on very quickly and I like those conditions – I’ve always said hard is my favourite surface.”

Up next for the British number one is the Czech Republic’s Radek Stepanek, who came through against Viktor Troicki, after the Serb retired hurt.

And Murray, who has beaten Stepanek in their two previous encounters, insists he will not have it easy against his unpredictable opponent.

“He’s a very tricky player,” added Murray. “He’s a good serve-and-volleyer but he likes to mix it up a little bit and he’s different to most of the players on the tour so I’ll have to be on my game.”