ANDY MURRAY claimed his first Olympic singles victory, with a noisy Wimbledon crowd helping him see off the challenge of Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3, 6-3.
It was three weeks since Murray cried on Centre Court having lost the Wimbledon men's singles final to Roger Federer, and the world No.1 was supporting his country- man, who is a friend and a familiar foe of Murray.
Murray enjoyed the partisan atmosphere and was pleased with the way he improved through the match.
The Scot said: "It was a tough start in both sets. He had some break points early, me too. We couldn't quite convert. Once I got the break in the first set, I played better.
"The support makes a huge difference. It's a slightly different crowd to Wimbledon. It's weird, there are so many colours, there is a lot of noise with the music and stuff when you come out that you don't get at Wimbledon.
"I was disappointed with the way I played in Beijing. I didn't understand what the Olympics meant to me, it was my first time.
"I know how much that loss hurt and wanted to come here as well prepared as I could be. Today was a good start."
Not contributing to Britain's superb medal haul in Beijing was a major disappointment to Murray, and he is determined to do everything he can to change that now.
The hope is the host nation will do even better on home soil, but Murray cautioned against unrealistic expectations.
He said: "I think everybody needs to be realistic about what to expect.
"Obviously a lot of money has gone into the Games but we are a small country in comparison to China and the USA.
"The last Olympics were fantastic.
"There is extra pressure on the athletes and I think maybe a lot of people thought just because we have the home support, that means we are going to do much better.
"That's not always the case because with home support comes a bit of pressure as well.
"I'm sure we'll have a very good Olympics, we've got a great team and I hope we can do the country proud."