Andy Murray has been handed a walkover victory in the second round of the Shanghai Masters after Florian Mayer withdrew with a wrist injury.

Mayer, who beat Bernard Tomic in straight sets in round one, withdrew just an hour before the scheduled start of play to see Murray through to the last 16, where he'll face Alexandr Dolgopolov, without hitting a ball.

The British No.1, who has won the Shanghai Masters in each of the last two years, is yet to play a match in the tournament having received a bye in round one.

Andy Murray
Murray will face Alexandr Dolgopolov in round three in Shanghai.

"You never know whether it's a good or a bad thing, but sometimes it happens," Murray said.

"You just need to make sure you do enough prep, stay sharp today and hopefully come out playing well tomorrow. Whoever I play now will have played two matches in these conditions. It may take a little while for me to adjust so I need to make sure I'm patient."

Having enjoyed the most fruitful year of his tennis career after winning Olympic singles gold, and his first grand slam title at the US Open, Murray is plotting a route to the top of the world rankings.

Despite calling off his charge until 2013, Murray is hoping to enjoy a more successful season state-side in the first half of the year, where at Indian Wells this year he only reached the second round .

Murray plans to sacrifice his commitments at the Dubai Tennis Championships in February in order to assist his campaign in the United States, following his Australian Open campaign.

"I hadn't played particularly well in Indian Wells the last few years," Murray said. "After the Australian Open this year, I went over to train in Miami afterwards, which I felt worked well.

"But I then flew back to Dubai and then back over for Indian Wells, so that beginning part of the year I was a bit tired for certain tournaments,"

"With the travelling that I have to do, I have decided that, after the Australian Open, I'll go home for a little while and then go over to Miami and train and stay over in America for a while, get used to the conditions and try and reduce the travel at the beginning of the year."