Andy Murray acknowledged he produced a nervous performance against Radu Albot on Saturday but suggested it was due to the pressure of a kind Indian Wells Masters draw.
Murray had been due to play Pablo Carreno Busta in the second round in California, only for the 15th seed to pull out with injury.
The three-time major champion instead defeated Albot in 6-4 6-3 for his first straight-sets victory of the season.
That sets Murray up to play fellow Briton Jack Draper in round three ahead of a potential round-four meeting with top seed Carlos Alcaraz, the best player in the draw after Novak Djokovic was unable to enter.
Murray was in complete control against Albot but played with nerves, explaining: "I didn't know if it was because of [the change of opponent].
"I was trying to give reasons for why I may have felt that way. I felt nervous on the court.
"A lot of the way that Radu plays and Carreno Busta plays is not too dissimilar, in terms of the way they like to play points and maybe where and how they like to serve.
"Obviously there are differences in their games, but it wasn't a huge change in terms of my game plan or what I was expecting going into the match.
"But maybe I felt like it was a good opportunity for me and that the draw had opened up slightly. I obviously wanted to try to finish the match quickly."
Yet those nerves are not a problem for Murray, who says he would rather play under that pressure.
"I generally much prefer feeling nervous when I play matches and feeling pressure," he said. "It just felt a bit out of sync with the situation. I was in, I guess, pretty decent control of the match.
"I was serving well, I was hitting the ball pretty well, but there was just more tension than probably there should have been out there on the court.
"But usually I prefer to feel nerves, providing they are in check. And maybe they weren't, for whatever reason.
"I would way rather feel more tension than feel flat, which is really never a good sign for me. If I wake up and I don't feel any of the butterflies or anything like that, it's generally a bad sign."
Jarry defeats Paul to set up Zverev showdown in Italian Open final
Nicolas Jarry defeated Tommy Paul in three sets on Friday to set up a showdown with Alexander Zverev in the Italian Open final.
The men's world number 24 prevailed 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 in a little under three hours in Rome to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 final.
Jarry earned the only break of serve in the eighth game of the opening set, but Paul - who dropped just one set in four matches en route to this stage - hit back in the second.
Birthday boy Paul lost serve to trail 4-2 at one stage, but he produced one of the shots of the tournament at the ideal moment and soon dragged it back to 4-4.
A gruelling set concluded with Paul taking the tie-break 7-3, but Jarry was unperturbed and won the deciding set with his fifth match point to see off Paul in a gruelling contest.
Data Debrief:
Jarry is the third male Chilean in the Open Era to reach the singles final of the Italian Open after Marcelo Rios (1997-98) and Fernando Gonzalez (2007).
The 28-year-old registered 13 aces against Paul to his opponent's seven and hit 35 winners to 19 in a deserved victory.
Zverev ends Tabilo's dream run to reach Italian Open final
Alexander Zverev fought back from the brink to reach the Italian Open final on Friday, overcoming Alejandro Tabilo by a 1-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 scoreline in the last four.
Zverev was punished for a slow start as Tabilo took the opener within 32 minutes, but the German fought back in a one-hour, 15-minute slog of a second set.
The 2017 Italian Open champion put his foot down from 3-3 in the second-set tie-break, with Tabilo potentially feeling the effects of a fine run that included a last-32 upset of Novak Djokovic.
Zverev upped the intensity in the final set and won a huge 94 per cent of points behind his first serve as his opponent wilted, the third seed reaching the Rome final for a third time.
Data Debrief: Zverev draws level with Becker
Zverev will now face either Nicolas Jarry or Tommy Paul in Sunday's final, which will be his 11th at ATP 1000 Masters level.
That tally pulls him level with Boris Becker for most such finals by a German player since the format's 1990 introduction.
Sabalenka defeats Collins to set up Swiatek rematch
Aryna Sabalenka defeated Danielle Collins 7-5 6-2 to set up yet another meeting with Iga Swiatek at the Italian Open.
Having defeated Collins en route to the final of the Madrid Open, which she lost to Swiatek, Sabalenka repeated the trick with a straight sets win over the American in Thursday's semi-final.
And the Belarusian's reward will be an immediate rematch with Swiatek.
The duo have met 10 times, including in Madrid earlier this month, with Swiatek winning seven times and Sabalenka claiming three victories.
This will be Sabalenka's first appearance in the Italian Open final.
She is the sixth player, along with Simona Halep (2017), Dinara Safina (2009), Serena Williams (2013), Ons Jabeur (2022), and Swiatek (2024) to have reached the final of both Madrid and Rome in the same season.
Data Debrief: Perfect record
Collins is the only player against whom Sabalenka has registered six wins without a loss in WTA events, while only against Maria Sakkari and Elise Mertens does she have more wins in her career in such events (seven each).
The final will mark the fourth meeting on clay between Swiatek and Sabalenka as world number one and two, equalling Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova for the most meetings on the surface as the WTA's top-two ranked players.
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