Andy Murray felt his serve returned to somewhere near its best as he beat Andreas Seppi in round two of the BNP Paribas Open.
The world number four is looking to bounce back after his shock defeat to Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic last time out in Dubai and he eased past the Italian with a 6-4 6-4 victory in Indian Wells.
Murray was hesitant at the start of the match but upped his game as the first set progressed before securing a single break of serve in the second to seal the victory.
Seppi played well in patches but could not match Murray for consistency and when the Scot's serve began to function, there was only ever going to be one winner.
Murray will face a new challenge in the next round, having never played either USA's Michael Russell or Russia's Igor Andreev, and he hopes to keep improving as the tournament progresses
"It was testing conditions but hopefully I can play better in the next round," he said.
"I thought after the first three or four service games I began to serve big. But I was leaving my backhand in the middle of the court and he began to dominate points.
"But I won in straight sets so that is obviously good."