Awesome Murray gets off to a flier with capital win over Soderling

The 23-year-old played a near-flawless first set, marked by 14 winners and only four unforced errors, before clinching the only break in the second set to see off a very dangerous opponent.

Murray said: "I think tactically it was a great match. I think I played very smart tennis today. And even when it was getting tough in the second set, with a lot of long rallies and I was on the defensive quite a lot, I stuck to my tactics well and managed to come through.

"Robin is a great player, a big guy. He's played most of his best tennis indoors. Most of his tournament wins have come indoors. So to win with that scoreline is obviously great."

Murray would have expected a stern examination from the winner of last week's Paris Masters – a victory that enabled Soderling to replace his opponent as the world No 4.

But it was the British No 1 who bossed the match from the off, taking advantage of Soderling's second serve in particular to clinch two breaks in the first set.

The Swede really was a shadow of the player he has been for the past 18 months but a lot of that was down to the brilliance of Murray, who time and again found the perfect passing shot.

The second set was much closer, with the Scot's level inevitably dropping and Soderling raising his game, but a first real moment of trouble for Murray in the sixth game, when he saved the only break point he faced, proved the catalyst for his victory.

He moved to 0-40 in the next game and secured the break courtesy of a third Soderling double fault before serving out a hugely impressive victory.

Soderling felt his busy schedule and a stomach problem he was suffering with earlier this week may have contributed to his poor performance.

He said: "I didn't start off very well. The first set was not very good.

"I wasn't really there. I think the second set was better. But he played better than me today.

"The last couple of weeks have been really tough for me. I've played a lot of matches. I dealt with some stomach problems. Now I feel fine but it was tough."

The Swede had nothing but praise for his opponent, in particular Murray's serving – he hit 10 aces to Soderling's two – and trademark defensive skills.

"He served really well," said Soderling. "Maybe that's the only thing I was a little bit surprised with. He was putting a lot of first serves in. And he was defending really well.

"I think I was hitting the ball pretty hard sometimes, trying to be aggressive. Every time I came to the net, he came up with a really good shot. All credit to him because he really played well today."

Controversy surrounded the ATP's announcement of calendar changes for the 2012 and 2013 seasons when it was revealed the Paris Masters and ATP World Tour Finals are to be held back to back.

The changes were approved at a board meeting in London, with two weeks removed from the calendar courtesy of condensing Paris and London as well as the reallocation of three smaller tournaments to earlier in the year.

ATP executive chairman and president Adam Helfant has defended the changes.