ATP World Tour No. 4 Andy Murray was impressive in his return to action Tuesday evening at the Valencia Open 500, dismissing Spanish wild card Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-3, 6-1 on his debut at the ATP World Tour 500 indoor hard-court tournament.

The top seed, playing his first match since representing Great Britain in Davis Cup competition in September, dropped just six points in the first four games as he raced to a 4-0 lead. World No. 77 Gimeno-Traver recovered one of the service breaks to cut the deficit to 3-4, but Murray was quickly back in his stride and broke once more in the ninth game to seal a one-set lead.

In the pair’s first ATP meeting, the Scot wasted no time in pressing home his advantage in the second set, breaking twice in the fourth and sixth games to seal victory after one hour.

The 22-year-old Murray, who has been sidelined with a left wrist injury since the Davis Cup, is one win shy of his 60th victory of the season after improving to a 59-9 match record. Together with Rafael Nadal, the Dunblane native leads the ATP World Tour with five titles, including at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments in Miami (d. Djokovic) and Montreal (d. del Potro).

Murray next will face Argentine Leonardo Mayer, who defeated 2005 champion Igor Andreev of Russia 6-3, 6-3.

Frenchmen Gilles Simon and Gael Monfils, who are both battling to clinch one of two remaining singles berths at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in November, advanced to the second round.

Fifth seed Simon, currently No. 14 in the year-to-date South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings, defeated Igor Kunitsyn 6-3, 6-2.  He won 78 per cent of service points and saved all three break points for victory in 55 minutes.  It was the pair’s first meeting since June 2006 at Nottingham.

The 24-year-old Simon improved to a 43-27 match record on the season, highlighted by one ATP World Tour title at the PTT Thailand Open in Bangkok (d. Troicki) last month.  Kunitsyn, 28, also made a first-round exit at Valencia in 2003.

Sixth seed Monfils, ranked No. 16 in the year-to-date rankings and 130 points behind Simon, overcame Spanish wild card Marcel Granollers 6-4, 6-2 in 71 minutes.  He converted five of 10 break point opportunities to improve to a 38-17 mark on the year.  Last month, Monfils captured his second ATP World Tour title at the Open de Moselle in Metz (d. Kohlschreiber).

In a re-match of the 2008 all-Spanish Valencia final, defending champion David Ferrer survived a scare before progressing to the second round with a 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-2 victory over two-time former winner Nicolas Almagro.

Ferrer, who edged Almagro in a third-set tie-break last year, served for the match and held one match point at 5-3 in the second set, before 2006-7 champion Almagro hit back to claim the set on a tie-break. Ferrer swiftly recovered, though, and two breaks in the first and seventh games of the deciding set saw him clinch victory after two hours and 16 minutes.

World No. 18 Ferrer improved to a 12-4 mark at his hometown tournament, having also reached the final in 2005 (l. to Andreev). The right-hander has compiled a 43-23 mark on the season, highlighted by two runner-up finishes at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships (l. to Djokovic) and the Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell (l. to Nadal).

Spaniard Tommy Robredo, the No. 7 seed, withstood a challenge from Belgian qualifier Christophe Rochus to close out a 6-0, 5-7, 6-3 win in two hours and 10 minutes. Robredo fired 16 aces and won seven of his 10 break point opportunities, while limiting his opponent to a 3 for 13 conversion rate on his break points.

Robredo reached the semi-finals last year in Valencia before falling to Ferrer. He has a 44-23 record this season, highlighted by the title wins in February at the clay-court tournaments in Costa do Sauipe and Buenos Aires.

Argentine Juan Monaco, a quarter-finalist last year, set up a second-round meeting with second seed Nikolay Davydenko after breaking serve five times to dismiss countryman Martin Vassallo Arguello 6-3, 6-2 in 75 minutes.

Two-time former champion Juan Carlos Ferrero made an early exit Tuesday as Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas recovered from a set-and-a-break deficit to defeat the Spaniard 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-3.