British men’s number one Cameron Norrie started the final regular ATP Tour event of the season with a straight-set win at the Paris Masters.
Norrie, 27, looked sharp in a 6-2 6-4 victory against Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic in the first round.
Seeded 12th, Norrie claimed his 49th match win of what has been another successful year on the ATP Tour.
Meanwhile, former world number one Andy Murray is out after losing to veteran Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-4 5-7 3-6.
The 35-year-old Scot took the opening set against Simon, who is set to retire after the event, before collapsing at 5-3 up in the second set while serving for the match.
Simon, a 37-year-old wildcard, rallied in front of his home crowd. He took the second set and broke Murray to love as the world number 48 double-faulted to hand Simon the success in the final set.
Simon, ranked 188 in the world, has now beaten Murray three times out of the 19 they have faced each other and will take on ninth seed Taylor Fritz of the USA in the next round.
Wimbledon semi-finalist Norrie will go for a 50th victory against France’s Corentin Moutet or Croatia’s Borna Coric next.
Norrie has narrowly missed out on qualifying for the upcoming ATP Finals – the season-ending event featuring the season’s best eight players – although he could still go to Turin as an alternate.
He is one of four Britons to automatically qualify for the main draw of the Masters 1000 event in Paris, with fellow world top-50 players Dan Evans and Jack Draper also competing.
British number two Evans, 32, plays American Brandon Nakashima on Tuesday, which is when fast-rising 20-year-old Draper faces French wildcard Arthur Rinderknech.
