British number one Cameron Norrie opened his bid for a second Indian Wells Masters title in style with a straight-sets win over Taiwan's Tung-lin Wu in the second round.
The world number 12 took just one hour and 13 minutes to seal a 6-2 6-4 triumph and seal his spot in the third round, where he will take on Japan's Taro Daniel.
Norrie - who entered the ATP 1000 event on the back of beating Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the Rio Open - exploded out of the blocks on Friday, missing two break points in the opening game of the match but earning a break to 15 in game three.
Wu offered little resistance, and Norrie brought up three break points in the fifth game thanks to a double fault from his 24-year-old counterpart, who quickly fell 4-1 down before Norrie held to love.
Wu managed to hold to delay the inevitable, but another love hold from the British number one wrapped up the first set in half-an-hour, although he would have to dig a tiny bit deeper in the second set.
As more errors begun to creep into Norrie's play, Wu had two chances to break in the fourth game, but the Wimbledon semi-finalist saved both of them before bringing out the winners to break to love in the fifth.
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The double break would come Norrie's way in the seventh game, giving him the chance to serve out the match, but Wu was not going down without a fight and earned one break back for 3-5 to keep the contest going.
The world number 175 held in the ninth, but it was a fruitless endeavour, as Norrie responded in kind with a final love hold to book his place in the third round, where three of his compatriots will be aiming to join him.
Andy Murray's comeback win over Tomas Etcheverry meant that the three-time Grand Slam winner was due to face Pablo Carreno Busta in the second round, but the Spaniard was forced to pull out due to a muscle injury.
Instead, Murray will face Moldovan lucky loser Radu Albot in the second round, while an intriguing battle between Jack Draper and Dan Evans will take place on Saturday too.
Elsewhere, there was a shock exit for Greek second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas at the hands of Australia's Jordan Thompson, who prevailed 7-6[0] 4-6 7-6[5], but Casper Ruud and Daniil Medvedev both advanced with ease.
Ben Knapton
