Tennis: Murray Roars Back Into Action With California Stroll

Andy Murray made a successful start to his defence of the SAP Open in San Jose, displaying the efforts of an industrious few weeks.

The Scot has not played since losing to Rafael Nadal in their fourth-round match at the Australian Open three weeks ago, but he showed few signs of rustiness in easing past first-round opponent Kevin Kim 6-3, 6-1 at the California tournament.

Murray explained afterwards that he had been working on his serve with coach Brad Gilbert. "I had some pretty good results at Melbourne Park and I've been playing just solid since," he said. "My serve-and-volley game is much stronger."

Murray won the first set 6-3 and was rarely troubled in the second as his opponent crumbled after being broken in the first game. The Scot broke again in the third game and held serve, before Kim broke his duck in the fifth game.

However, the contest was all over soon after as No3 seed Murray set up a second-round meeting with Kristian Pless - 7-5, 6-1 conqueror of Ukrainian qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky.

Murray, seeded to meet Andy Roddick in the semi-finals, knew an early exit would have sent him tumbling down the world rankings - but he was rarely tested by his American opponent. "I thought I was playing pretty well throughout the whole match - I was hitting the ball pretty well in practice," he added.