Andy Murray begins Madrid Open title defence with win over Radek Stepanek

The world number two won the opening set on a tie-break and after dropping the second set he raced through the decider to complete a 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-1 win over the world number 148.

After receiving a bye in the first round, Murray edged past the former Wimbledon quarter-finalist and will play either France's Gilles Simon or Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in the third round on Thursday.

"The first couple of sets he played great, he was taking a lot of risks," said Murray.

"Not loads of the match was played on my terms but in the third set I started to use a little bit more height to make it tougher for him to generate pace and that got me a few more errors in the third set, but it was very tough."

The Scotsman beat Rafael Nadal in the final of last year's tournament and the two could meet in this year's semi-final if they both make it that far.

On Tuesday it was also announced that the pair would both play at this year's Aegon Championships, at London's Queen's Club, in June.

Sportsbeat 2016