Spaniard David Ferrer's late push for a place in the ATP tour finals got off to a laboured start with a 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 win over compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez at the Valencia Open on Tuesday.

Earlier, top seed Andy Murray [ Images ] survived a second set wobble to kick off his title defence with a 6-3, 7-6 win over Spaniard Feliciano Lopez [ Images ].

Ferrer, the world number eight, is fighting for one of three remaining places at the season-ending ATP Tour finals in London [ Images ] this month.

Rafael Nadal [ Images ], Roger Federer [ Images ], Novak Djokovic [ Images ], Murray and Robin Soderling [ Images ] have qualified, while Ferrer and Mikhail Youzhny, both playing in Valencia, have a good chance of claiming berths.

Fourth seed Ferrer had to come back from a break down in the third set before prevailing in the cavernous clam-shaped Agora building in Valencia's modernistic 'City of Arts and Sciences.'

"The first game of a tournament is always harder than others because there is more pressure," Ferrer told the tournament website (www.valenciaopen500.com)

He will meet qualifier Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia [ Images ] in the second round.

Murray entered the tournament two weeks after beating Roger Federer in the Shanghai Masters final, but had problems on his backhand and trailed Lopez 4-1 in the second set.

After losing his serve, the world number four broke back and cruised through the tiebreak to win 7-1 to set up a meeting with Argentine Juan Monaco.

World number five Soderling swept past Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-1 6-4, and sixth-seed Nikolay Davydenko [ Images ] had a similarly easy ride, hammering wild card Javier Marti 6-2, 6-2.