Andy Murray began his Barclays ATP World Tour campaign with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Robin Soderling.
The 23-year-old produced a near-flawless performance in the first set and then secured the crucial break of serve in the seventh game of the second to see off a dangerous opponent with the minimum of fuss.
The Scot said: "I was pretty excited today. It was important to get off to a good start. I managed to hit some good passing shots when I needed to and managed to come through."
Murray has been in decent form lately but no player would have gone into the tournament with more confidence than Soderling, who won the Masters event in Paris last weekend to snatch the world number four spot off his opponent.
The Swede showed his liking for the O2 on his Finals debut last season, when he reached the semi-finals, while Murray will be aiming to make the last four on home soil for the first time after missing out by one game 12 months ago.
Murray looked the sharper from the off and in Soderling's second service game he came up with two terrific passes to set up three break points.
The Swede saved two, the second of which when Murray just missed with another passing attempt at the end of an epic rally, but at 30-40 the Scot was allowed sight of a second serve and he made no mistake, creaming a trademark backhand down the line.
The court appeared to be playing considerably slower than last year, and it was suiting Murray a lot more than the bigger-hitting Soderling.
The Swede was in all sorts of trouble every time he missed with his first serve and the first set was all but over when Murray broke again to lead 5-2.
The home hope was at least tested serving for the set but, after the first deuce of the match, he wrapped it up in only 28 minutes with an ace and an outrageous blocked drop shot.
With Roger Federer waiting later in the round-robin phase, both players knew this match was likely to be crucial to their hopes of qualifying from Group B.
Soderling needed to improve and fast, and he got off to the best possible start in the second set with a love service game. He then put Murray under pressure but a brilliant passing shot off a smash and an ace enabled him to level at 1-1.
Now it was Soderling's turn to feel the heat but this time the 26-year-old managed to recover from 0-30 to hold.
It was not the way he would have wanted to mark his first match as world number four, though, with the extra time afforded Murray by the slower court meaning Soderling was finding it very difficult to hit winners.
He was at least in contention in the second set, though, which was partly down to Murray's first-serve percentage dropping substantially from the impressive 70% he had managed in set one.
And in the sixth game that resulted in the 23-year-old facing his first break point of the match. An ace was the perfect response and he eventually held serve.
That looked a key hold when two errors from Soderling and a superb point from Murray took the world number five to 0-40 in the seventh game, and he was handed the break courtesy of a double fault from the Swede.
The outcome was never in any doubt after that and Murray, whose hopes were scuppered last year by his failure to record a straight-sets win, served out to 15 for a notable victory.
Reopens Murray's victory was followed by an on-court presentation to former French Open champion and world number one Carlos Moya, who announced his retirement earlier this week because of injury.
The 34-year-old's fellow Majorcan, Rafael Nadal, paid tribute to Moya in front of a gathering of current and former players, including Spanish greats Albert Costa, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Murray's part-time coach Alex Corretja.
Blog Archive
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2010
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November
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- Rafal Nadal - Press conference video
- Rafa meets Diego
- Facebook update
- Zimonjic reaping rewards
- Llodra ready for Singles too
- Carlos Moya Special
- Rafael Nadal - 2010 has been "fantastic"
- Art of Tennis auction - Finished
- Serbia counts on Djokovic
- ATP rankings - 29/11/2010
- Post match interview with Rafael Nadal
- Rafael Nadal - Press Conferernce transcript
- Nadal sets sight on "Rafa Slam"
- 2011 Slam predictions
- Murray to continue alone
- Roger Federer - No plans to quit
- No excuses from Rafael Nadal
- Rafa loses the World Tour Final :(
- Rafael Nadal - photos from the final
- Tennis TV preview video
- Facebook update
- Rafa Nadal's press conference photos
- Rafael Nadal - post match interview
- Federer "scaling new height" says Djokovic
- Rafael Nadal is "mentally fresh" for the final
- Rafael Nadal's semi final press conference
- Rafael Nadal into the World Tour Final
- Rafael Nadal semi final photos Part 2
- Rafael Nadal semi final photos
- Hawk-eye for all?
- Rafael Nadal - Friday's "Hot Shot"
- Rafael Nadal post match video
- Semi final previews
- Boris has a facelift
- Murray mind games
- USTA to sue Olympus
- Djokovic advances to the semi final
- Berdych - Umpire was scared of Nadal
- Rafael Nadal into the Semi Final at the World Tour...
- Photos of Rafael Nadal v Tomas Berdych
- Rafael Nadal - Pre match video
- Rafael Nadal - Pre match video
- Rafael Nadal practice video part 2
- Rafael Nadal practice video
- Interview with the Serbian DC captain
- Hewitt has a new coach
- Murray - I can't beat Rafa
- Photos added from the ATP World Tour Finals 2010
- Carlos Moya tribute
- Roger & Rafa promo video in full
- Soderling to split with coach?
- On court interview with Andy Murray
- Rafael Nadal - on court post match interview after...
- Rafael Nadal walking on court v Novak
- Rafael Nadal - Awards ceremony at the World Tour F...
- Djokovic - Unlucky or hypochondriac?
- Tennis deserves Olympic slot
- New TV deal
- Berdych eyes revenge
- French Open boost
- Rafael Nadal beats Novak Djokovic
- Roddick almost out of World Tour Finals
- Sorry
- Rafael Nadal v Novak Djokovic preview
- Rafael Nadal - Edberg Award & World # 1
- Can Rafa do the Career Super Slam?
- Rafaday!!!!Started off by getting there a bit earl...
- Federer v Murray - Who Has The Edge?
- Djokovic & Nadal get off to winning starts
- Rankings as of 22/11/2010
- Todd Martin says Roddick in 3
- First day at the ATP World Tour Finals
- Federer off to a winning start
- Murray gets off to an impressive start
- Schedule change from 2012
- Training video
- O2 practice photos
- Team Nadal
- Andy Murray interview
- Savour Rafa & Roger - Roddick
- Roger worried about lack of youth
- Rafael Nadal can raise the roof and end great debate
- Rafa & Roger win ATP Awards
- ATP Rafa video
- Off to London!
- Lovely close-ups of Rafa
- Art of Tennis Auctions
- Finally - we have Roddick's Art of Tennis
- BBC 5Live Interview
- Rafa Nadal "Art of Tennis" goes on sale
- Lawsuit Claims ATP Knew Stars Were Tied to Betting
- Rafael Nadal - Will He or Will He Not Win It?
- Rafter & Ivanisevic make their tips for WTF
- Lovely B&W shot of Rafa Nadal
- And some more photos
- More photos of Rafael Nadal & the rest
- Rafa wrapped up
- Federer - I may never get back to #1
- Belgrade "safe" for the Davis Cup
- More photos
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