Masterful Murray romps into China Open pre-quarters

World number two Andy Murray began his quest for a maiden China Open title with a comfortable straight-sets victory over Andreas Seppi of Italy here on Tuesday.

The Briton broke Seppi's serve twice in the opening set before fighting back from 2-0 down in the next set to register a 6-2, 7-5 win in the opening round contest that lasted one hour and 26 minutes.

Murray will next take on either Konstantin Kravchuk or Andrey Kuznetsovv for a place in the quarter-finals.

Earlier in the day, 14-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal also progressed through to the next round after posting a crushing 6-1, 6-1 win over Italy's Paolo Lorenzi.