The 21-year-old could next face a rematch with Fernando Verdasco, who upset him in the Australian Open in January, with the Spaniard taking on Radek Stepanek later today.

Murray had started slowly in his second and third-round matches but he sprung out of the traps today, breaking in Troicki’s first service game.

The 23-year-old is at a career-high world ranking of 41 and is set to climb higher following his run in Florida, which included a second-round win over David Nalbandian.

Murray won their only previous meeting in straight sets on his way to the title in St Petersburg last year and the early stages today offered no indication there might be a different result.

Indeed, Troicki was struggling just to win points and two crunching returns from Murray helped him to a second successive break and a 4-0 lead.

The Scot had two points to wrap up a love set but, to his credit, Troicki came up with some big serves to finally get on the board after 27 minutes.

It was only a temporary reprieve, however, as Murray easily served out the set.

Troicki’s main problem was his serve, with the Serbian’s first-serve percentage down at 25% in the opening set and his second serve an invitation to his opponent.

The second set continued in the same vein with Murray again taking full advantage of Troicki’s woes to break in the first game.

The Serbian battled hard to try to hold on to his serve but again he was unsuccessful as Murray eased to a 3-0 lead.

Troicki fought back from 0-40 to 30-40 in his next service game but another short second serve was a present for Murray and he duly served out for an easy victory.