Indian Wells Masters champion Cameron Norrie began the defence of his crown with a straight-sets victory over Pedro Martinez of Spain on Saturday.
After Andy Murray and Dan Evans had booked their places in the third round, 2021 winner Norrie marched to a 6-3 6-3 win over Martinez to keep his hopes of back-to-back titles alive.
Norrie recovered from an early break to win four games in a row in the first set before breaking the Martinez serve to progress, with the Spaniard netting before hitting long and wide at deuce.
"He came out and played well, I started a little bit nervy and wasn't moving my feet so much, but he gave me a break back and I was able to relax a little bit" Norrie told Amazon Prime during his on-court interview.
"In the second set I upped my level and ran away with it. Not an easy second-round match, he [Pedro] came out with nothing to lose and was very aggressive, but I was very happy with my level towards the end there."
Norrie's third round encounter sees him renew hostilities with Nikoloz Basilashvili, whom he defeated in last year's final to win his first ATP Masters 1000 title.
Ben Knapton
