Stanislas Wawrinka
Wawrinka cruised home for the loss of just two games in his Tour Finals opener Getty Images/Julian Finney

World No.3 Stanislas Wawrinka humbled Tomas Berdych in straight sets to begin his ATP World Tour Finals campaign in emphatic fashion in London.

Wawrinka, a semi-finalist in 2013, strolled to a 6-1 6-1 victory in just 58 minutes to start the round robin phase with a fifth straight career win over Berdych.

Making his fifth consecutive appearance at the ATP Finals, Berdych made 20 unforced errors across the 14 games and displayed none of the form which had seen him reach the last four at the Paris Masters while his task of reaching a second semi-final at the O2 Arena now appears distant.

Australian Open champion Wawrinka wasted little time in beginning his assault on the last four against a player in Berdych who was making his fifth straight appearance.

But despite that experience, Berdych looked all at sea during the first few exchanges and was broken as early as the second game as the Czech began on the back-foot in the backhand rallies.

Wawrinka soon strolled into a 4-0 lead as Berdych's second serve continue to fail him and though the Swiss player then missed the first set point presented to him, the No.3 seed served out the set to take a commanding lead.

With his Tour Finals progress already hanging by a thread, Berdych began the second set more positively but though he saved two break points he was unable to keep out a third as Wawrinka unleashed a customary backhand to lead 2-1.

The writing was then on the wall for Berdych, the 2010 Wimbledon runner-up, with Wawrinka surging to the simplest of victories as he claimed the final four games to clinch the win in under an hour.