Andy Murray secured his place in the second round of the Shenzhen Open with victory over China's Zhizhen Zhang.
The former world No. 1 and multiple Grand Slam champion showed little sign of rustiness despite nearly a month off from competitive tennis as he won the delayed first round match 6-3, 6(3)-7,4-2.
Playing in only his eleventh match of an injury-hit season, the Scot flew out of the blocks under the lights in Shenzhen, breaking his opponent at the first opportunity and racing into a 4-1 lead.
Murray then broke to love before a loose service game allowed Zhang to instantly break back, but the wildcard closed out the first set with an unerring hold to love.
In a tight second set all four of the opening service games went to deuce with both players forced to save break points.
Murray battled back in the third, securing the first break of the set. Zhang chose to retire shortly afterwards, handing Murray victory.
Last week, Murray confirmed he would finish his season after next week's China Open in Beijing, missing the end of the Masters season to ensure he is in the best shape for January's Australian Open.
Murray -- playing competitive tennis for the first time since losing to Fernando Verdasco in the second round of the US Open -- will face No. 1 seed David Goffin in the second round.
On a weather-affected second day of the tournament, highly-rated Canadian Denis Shapovalov also made it into the second round.
The no. 6 seed was too strong for Belarussian Ilya Ivashka, winning 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 in a little over two hours.
American Mackenzie McDonald defeated Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 5-7, 6-0 5-0 (ret.) and Indian qualifier Ramkumar Ramanathan beat Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-1.