ATP World Tour Finals 2016: Andy Murray beats Marin Cilic in London
The
Briton, who replaced Novak Djokovic of Serbia at the top of the rankings last
week, won 6-3 6-2 at the O2 Arena for his 20th win in a row.
Murray
and Djokovic are vying for the year-end number one spot.
Japan's
Kei Nishikori beat Swiss Stan Wawrinka 6-2 6-3 in Monday's other John McEnroe
Group match.
The
evening session saw Murray step onto court as the world number one for the
first time - and he delivered the result that most of the 17,000 spectators
wanted.
"A
big thank you for all of the support, it was an incredible atmosphere
today," Murray said as the crowd saluted him. "I really appreciate
it."
Both
men misfired from the baseline in the early stages, with Murray making two
winners to 14 unforced errors in the first set, but it was a similar story
across the net.
The
Scot, 29, took his chances when they came, breaking twice and coming through
despite four double faults.
There
were more signs of the form that has brought Murray such success this year as
the second set unfolded.
After
saving an early break point with an ace, the Wimbledon champion broke at 2-2
thanks to two mighty forehand winners, and again at 4-2 with another heavy
cross-court forehand.
Murray,
who has yet to win this title, put his erratic start to the match down to the
pace of the court, rather than any added tension.
"I
didn't feel any more nervous than usual," he said.
"It's
just quite different conditions in there than what we've been practising in
during the week. It's a lot slower than it has been.
"I
think maybe some of the errors at the beginning were more getting used to
playing in new surroundings again."
Murray
will face Nishikori, live on BBC Two and Radio 5 live sports extra, on
Wednesday at 14:00 GMT.
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