Murray, who received a first round bye, sealed his place in the last 16 of the ATP 1000 event and laid down an early marker in the process courtesy of a 6-0 6-3 triumph in only 67 minutes.

The Scot made the perfect start to his French Open warm-up campaign, breaking Troicki in the first game of the match after a cute drop-shot had helped open up three break points, of which he took the third when the Serb swatted a forehand wide.

Murray completed the break with an ace in his opening service game before producing yet more exquisite play from the back of the court to pressurise Troicki's serve.

Pressure

A sublime drop-shot helped him surge 0-40 ahead and a repeat dose swiftly moved him 3-0 in front.

Murray, a semi-finalist here 12 months ago, raced through his next service game to love, meaning Troicki had won only three of the first 19 points played.

The third seed was putting on a real show for the crowd and in the fifth game Troicki was forced to save three more break points before surrendering yet again when Murray read a smash and sliced a backhand winner down the line.

Serving majestically, Murray sped through his third service game to seal a quite remarkable opening set 6-0 in just 28 minutes.

Things could only get better for Troicki in the second and he at least avoided the ignominy of a double bagel when holding his opening service game, albeit after a trip to deuce.

Murray continued to hold with great authority and he promptly moved a set and break to the good in the third game when Troicki netted a forehand under yet more pressure.

A solid hold for Murray followed before Troicki was forced to save two more break points after two inch-perfect forehand winners from the Scot. The Serb did so, and held, to at least keep in touch at 2-3.

But the world No.30 could not make any impression at all on the Murray serve as his opponent maintained a staggering first serve percentage of 82.

Good start

And the 24-year-old wrapped up a highly-encouraging win with his fifth break of serve at the first time of asking.

Next up in a field which includes seven-time defending champion Rafael Nadal and world No.1 Novak Djokovic - two men the Briton has never beaten on the red dirt - will be either France's Julien Benneteau or 15th seed Jurgen Melzer.

Speaking to Sky Sports 2HD after the match, Murray said: "It was a good start. Normally it's taken me a few matches to get used to the clay and to feel comfortable on it, but today I thought I moved well from the beginning of the match and that's important.

"Normally I'm slipping and sliding around too much but I felt comfortable and used a lot of variety in my play."

Asked about how preparations have gone ahead of the clay season, Murray, who reached the last four at Roland Garros in 2011, added: "I haven't had that much time this year to work on things, the next five/six weeks I'll have that ahead of the French Open.

"Last year was good for my confidence, I'd never played that well at Roland Garros before, I'd struggled previously against the top guys, but I feel much more confident on clay now."