It was Pete Sampras who said recently that for Andy Murray to win his first grand slam title it would help if he avoided long matches in the first week in order to conserve his strength for tougher tasks ahead.

With a difficult draw at the French Open over the next fortnight, that would seem to be even more imperative, so Sampras would have approved of events yesterday as the Scot dismissed Tatsuma Ito of Japan 6-1, 7-5, 6-0.

"For a first-round match in a slam, it was a good start," Murray said. "He played well for a five, six-game stretch in that second set and I played one bad game on my serve. The first and third sets were very comfortable."'

In the first set, the world No.68 looked out of his depth as Murray cruised through his service games and made mincemeat of Ito's, before taking an early break in the second.

As so often happens after an easy start, the concentration can wander and Murray dropped his serve, lifting Ito's confidence and giving the Japanese's fans something to shout about.

The only real moment of worry for Murray came at 3-4, 0-40 but a few good serves got him out of a hole and he then broke in the 11th game before serving out the set.

The third set was a procession as the Scot turned on the style to wrap it up in 22 minutes and set up a clash with Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, who was one set all with Igor Andreev when the Russian retired through injury.

Murray has won all three of his meetings with Nieminen, the No.48, and dropped just one set, back in 2006. The Finn is talented but at the age of 30, his best days are probably behind him and Murray will expect to maintain his strong record against left-handers. Staying fresh is going to be important here, with Spanish mudlark David Ferrer in his quarter and then Rafa Nadal, the six-times champion, his semi-final opponent, if the seedings go to plan.

With Novak Djokovic chasing his fourth straight grand slam victory – Rod Laver, in 1969, was the last to do it – and Nadal and 16-times grand slam winner Roger Federer in the field, Murray's chances of winning the title might appear to be relatively slim.

But reaching the semi-finals here last year convinced him he could do well and he said it was all about his own expectations, not those of others.

"You've just got to believe in yourself," he said. "If you think you can win the event, then that's really all that matters. Whether I'm more of a favourite here or at Wimbledon or wherever, it doesn't make any huge difference to how I play or how I approach an event."

Throughout the fortnight, or as long as he is still involved, Murray is doing a bit of moonlighting with a column in the French sports newspaper, L'Equipe, under the headline: Dandy Murray.

Murray would never consider himself a fashion guru; rather, the extent of his input into the outfits he wears would appear to come down merely to his socks.

"I only wear old socks," he said. "I don't like new ones. My feet slip in the shoe a lot so I always wear old socks. Are these stained? These ones are all right. They're old. I guess they come out providing you wash them. Also I wear the ankle brace, as well, so that helps."

Murray decided not to comment on the colour of Nadal's shirt yesterday, saying he had not really seen the Spaniard on court during his 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 masterclass against Italy's Simone Bolelli.

Nadal was dressed in a vivid pink or red shirt, depending on your eyesight, causing a bit of concern that he might suffer the same fate as when he last wore pink here, in 2009 when he lost to Robin Soderling of Sweden.

The world No.2 has plenty of foibles – arranging his bottles, tugging at his shorts – but he is clearly not superstitious and when asked about the colour, he could not come up with an answer.

"I will check," he said, delighted to be asked a question not on his tennis. "I will ask Nike."

Nadal did, of course, answer plenty of questions about his form and in dropping just five games to Bolelli, ranked 111 but a fine clay-court player, he looked in fine fettle.

"I think it's one of my best first rounds," he said. "That's in my history at Roland Garros.

"I hope that in two days I'll play even better. I'll do my best so that I can play better. But I'm really satisfied. I feel really good, considering the way I played. I didn't do anything special, that's true, but I really feel really good."

Nadal will now play Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in round two.

Meanwhile, there was some good news for Colin Fleming, who did not recover from a stress fracture in his foot in time to play here.

The Scot was back on the practice courts at Wimbledon yesterday, getting an early feel for the grass ahead of what is an extended season, with the Olympics to follow three weeks after the Championships.