Murray safely through in Qatar

BRITISH No.1 Andy Murray has cruised to a straight sets victory over Albert Montanes in the defence of his Qatar Open crown.

_{SAFELY THROUGH: British No.1 Andy Murray eases through to second round in Qatar}

The fiery Scot disposed of Montanes with relative ease with a solid, if unspectacular performance, advancing to the next round with a 6-2, 6-4 victory.

Murray raced into a 5-1 lead against his Spanish opponent, ranked 43rd in the world, in the opening set and served out the set 6-2 to take command in the match.

It was not all plain sailing for Murray who failed to convert three break points when 5-1 up and was forced to dig deep and save four break points on his own serve.

The world No.4 then raced into a 4-0 lead in the second set with some stunning cross-court winners but without the spectacular tennis that saw him dispose of both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in Abu Dhabi last week.

Indeed the Spaniard broke back to take the score to 4-3 in games before Murray finally regained his composure that too often eluded him to serve out the second set, and the match 6-4.

"It was good result in the end," he said. "I was a bit nervous initially and lost my concentration towards the end of the second set but I'm happy to win in two."