World number one Andy Murray has defeated Marin Cilic in straight sets at the O2 Arena in London to kick off his ATP World Tour Finals campaign in the perfect manner.
In his first match since ousting Novak Djokovic as the world's top-ranked player, Murray had little trouble brushing aside his opponent as he came out on top 6-3 6-2 in a time of 90 minutes.
Murray delivered in front of the 17,000 watching spectators, ensuring that he remains on track to see out the year on top of the standings, as he must simply match Djokovic's finish here to achieve that feat.
The Scotsman did make a slow start to the match, though, with both players misfiring from the baseline in the opening stages, but it was the home favourite who found his rhythm quicker of the two to edge the opening set.
Cilic saw his serve broke on two occasions in the first four games, proving to give the three-time Grand Slam winner the platform needed to push on in the second set.
Murray held throughout, picking up breaks in the fifth and seventh games as he showed signs of the form that has taken him on this solid run of form, eventually coming out on top with relative ease to join Kei Nishikori - whom he faces next on Wednesday - at the top of the Group A leaderboard.
Daniel Lewis
