Murray, who reached the semifinals at Monte-Carlo for the first time in 2011, broke Troicki in the first game of the match and never looked back en route to an impressive 6-0, 6-3 victory.

“I think practicing on the clay in the States was probably a good move,” said Murray afterwards. “The sooner I can get on this surface the better.”
 
Apparently.
 

Once he completed a 37-stroke rally with an exquisite drop shot in the first game, it was all Murray for the remainder of the match. Even in the points in which Troicki appeared to have the clear advantage, Murray found ways to win.
 
“Getting off to a good start in the match helped,” said Murray. “It probably settled me down a little bit. Sometimes if it’s close, tight, first set, first match on clay, anything can happen.”
 
When he needed to scramble he did, making brilliant defensive stabs to keep himself in rallies, but more importantly, Murray’s serve was at his disposal from start to finish.
 

The world No. 4 dropped only two points on his first serve and made 80 percent of his first serves for the encounter.
 
He did not face a break point, and converted on 5 of 12 of his own against Troicki.
 

“It wasn’t necessarily my serve, it was more of what I was doing after the serve,” said Murray. “I wasn’t getting that many free points with the serve, I was using it more to set the way I was playing the points up.”
 

It was the perfect start for Murray, who will next face either Jurgen Melzer or Julien Benneteau in the third round.
 

If Murray continues to advance, he could face Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals, then Novak Djokovic in the semis.
 

As far as his new coach Ivan Lendl, Murray made it clear that Lendl had just arrived, so he had very little to do with today’s result. “He only arrived this morning, so he’s getting no credit for today’s win,” he said. “But he’ll help me a lot in the next five, six weeks.”