Andy Murray through to round two in Dubai

Andy Murray of Great Britain celebrates winning a point against Gilles Muller of Luxembourg during day two in Dubai. Picture: Getty

The only slight blip for the new world No 3 came when he was broken the first time he served for the match but he quickly put it behind him to clinch a 6-4, 7-5 victory in an hour and 45 minutes.

Murray next plays Portugal’s Joao Sousa, who he has beaten in straight sets in all four of their previous meetings, most recently at last month’s Australian Open.

Muller has been in the form of his life since linking up with British coach Jamie Delgado, a good friend of Murray’s.

The pair had been due to play doubles together in Rotterdam a fortnight ago only for Muller to pull out through illness.

The Luxembourg left-hander withstood strong pressure from Murray to hold serve in a third game that lasted almost 20 minutes but the Scot broke through two games later.

After Murray missed a chance to lead 5-2, Muller threatened to recover the break but could not take advantage of opportunities in the eighth and tenth games as the opening set slipped away.

In the final game of the first set, Murray served three aces, three double-faults, and saved a break point before winning the 16-point game.

Murray took a firm grip on the match in the third game of the second set, his ball-striking looking particularly sharp, and seemed set to clinch victory when he served for it at 5-4.

But a double fault proved costly as Muller benefited from two net cords to break back.

However, Murray moved ahead again straight away and made no mistake serving for the match a second time.

“I made him work very hard on his service games,” Murray said afterwards. “That was something I wanted to try to do from early on. The end of both sets I didn’t serve so well. But apart from that, I didn’t give him any opportunities really.”

There was disappointment, though, for British No 2 James Ward, who lost 6-4, 6-4 to sixth seed Feliciano Lopez.

Ward came through qualifying to reach the main draw but could not pull off an upset against the world No 13 and was left to rue eight missed break points.

Londoner Ward will now begin his preparations for next weekend’s Davis Cup clash against the USA in Glasgow having yesterday been named alongside Murray in the Great Britain team.

Playing for the first time since winning the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic came through with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Vasek Pospisil.

The top-ranked Djokovic won his fifth title in Melbourne at the beginning of the month. “It’s my first match since the Australian Open final so I’m still looking for that rhythm on the court,” Djokovic said. “I managed to stay mentally tough, patient and as soon as I got into the rallies I had a better chance of winning.”

Fernando Verdasco also enjoyed a winning start to his campaign, beating Spanish compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-5, 6-1 to set up a second-round clash with defending champion Roger Federer.

Fourth-seeded Tomas Berdych, a finalist in Dubai the last two years, beat Jeremy Chardy of France 7-6 (2), 6-4. The Czech started off with a 2-0 lead, but Chardy rebounded and played solid tennis until Berdych raced to a 5-0 lead in the tie-breaker. The win put the 29-year-old one victory away from claiming 500 match wins in his career.

Other first round winners included Marcos Baghdatis, Italy’s Simone Bolleli, Marsel Ilhan of Turkey and Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky, who came from a set down to dispatch Lukas Rosol.