Andy Murray outlasts Radek Stepanek in Madrid opener

World number two Andy Murray has held off the challenge of Radek Stepanek to advance to the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open.

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It was a slow start from Murray, who lost his serve in the opening game of the match as Stepanek went 2-0 and then 3-1 up.

However, the Scot hit back in the sixth game of the first set before six holds of serve followed, meaning that a tie-break was needed.

In the breaker, the pair changed ends level at 3-3 but Murray then reeled off four points in a row to take the lead.

Stepanek was not deterred by losing the opener as he again broke Murray straight away, this time consolidating his advantage to level the match 6-3.

The world number 148 ran out of steam in the decider, though, as Murray raced out to 5-0 lead before closing it out 7-6(3) 3-6 6-1 in two hours and 19 minutes.

Murray will be up against either 16th seed Gilles Simon or Pablo Carreno-Busta in the last 16.