The 20-year-old kept his level of play high and broke Stepanek in the 10th after the Czech could only put fierce Murray baseline shot into the net.
He smashed down six aces in total and had a 92% success rate on his first serve, while his opponent won just 56% of his first-service points.
Perhaps the most telling statistic was the fact Stepanek won only 18% of his total return points, with the power of Murray's groundstrokes proving too much.
The second set was over in a flash although Stepanek did produce a moment of magic when his sliced drop-shot spun back over to his side of the net.
That performance from Murray today confirms that he is totally over the injury and is back to the level that he was playing at at the beginning of the year. His serve was as good as I have seen it, and most importantly he was aggressive and took balls on rather than play passively like he did against Robredo.
If he carries on playing like that then he is going to give Nadal a very close run match, and could well end up beating him, especially if the rumours about Nadal not being 100% are true
Murray: [On his form after injury:] It takes time to build confidence. I wasnt expecting to play my best as soon as I came back. I dont think its taking me that long. I think Ive played like ten or eleven matches or something since Ive came back from injury, which isnt a lot really. To be playing like I am in such few matches since my injury is really good. I feel, after that match, I felt it started to click. Ive been getting pretty good in practise this week leading up to the tournament. I felt that I was... This kind of performance is going to give me confidence for the rest of the year.
[On his second round against Chela:] Hes played really well. Hes fourteen or fifteen (in the South African Airways ATP Rankings). So, a difficult match. Ive played with him three times before and Ive beaten him. He has some chances. The guy, hes a quality player. Plays well on all surfaces.