Murray finds comfort zone in Monte Carlo

Murray, who enjoyed his best clay-court campaign last season, started in style by breaking Troicki’s opening service game. He took the first set in just 27 minutes before wrapping up the match 6-0 6-3.

Murray, who now plays either Jurgen Melzer or Julien Benneteau in round three, said: “It was a good start. Normally it takes a few matches to get used to the clay but I thought I moved well from the start and that is important.

“I felt comfortable and I used a lot of variety in my shots. Confidence is a big thing in tennis.

“It’s a different type of game on clay. You have to have patience.”

Also in second-round action, fourth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga eased past Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2 6-4, and 13th-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco beat Croatia’s Ivan Dodig 3-6 6-3 6-1.

In the first round, seeds Feliciano Lopez and Florian Mayer both fell to defeat.

Spanish 10th seed Lopez was beaten 6-1 6-4 by Stanislas Wawrinka and 14th seed Mayer went down 3-6 6-1 6-3 to qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin.