Andy Murray begins Australian Open with laboured win over Illya Marchenko in pursuit of first Melbourne title

Murray defeated Marchenko despite showing a few signs of rust as he put in a laboured display, but it was enough to claim a 7-5, 7-6, 6-2 victory in Melbourne

There were times when the standard of tennis was well below what we have come to expect from Andy Murray but the world No 1 cleared his first hurdle here on the opening day of the Australian Open by beating Illya Marchenko in straight sets.

Murray, who won 7-5, 7-6, 6-2 after two hours and 47 minutes, grumbled his way through the opening two sets, during which he repeatedly berated himself and shouted out in frustration in the general direction of his entourage, but the 29-year-old Scot knows that at this stage of a Grand Slam tournament all that matters is the result.

He admitted afterwards that it was “not the best match” but thought the major reason was the big change in the weather after most of the players had spent the last week practising here in cool and overcast conditions.

Melbourne is notorious for its wild swings in weather, even though this was not an occasion when it lived up to its reputation for having “four seasons in one day”. Instead the sun shone constantly out of a cloudless sky as the temperature soared to 32C, which was at least 10 degrees higher than most of last week.

In such conditions the ball tends to fly faster through the air and bounce higher, which Murray said had made him more tentative. However, he also admitted that first-day nerves might have contributed to his uncharacteristically sluggish performance.

“I didn’t serve that well either,” he said. “You end up having to work really hard on a lot of your service games when it’s like that. It just was tough.”

He added: “I didn’t move that well. That’s how it felt anyway. But sometimes that can also be down to the conditions as well. The ball’s flying through the air a little bit quicker, so the ball is coming on to you faster than what it was the last few days. Maybe I wasn't reacting as quickly as I would have liked.

“But maybe there were also first-round nerves as well. It’s maybe normal to feel a little bit slow on your feet or a bit heavy-legged in the first round.”

Despite his lacklustre display there never appeared to be any serious danger of Marchenko creating an upset. The first set was a catalogue of unforced errors – 24 by the world No 95 and 12 by Murray.

Murray was far from his best but still had enough to see off Ukrainian Marchenko (Getty)

In the opening game Murray dropped serve after making three double faults but then went 4-1 up as Marchenko was broken to love in his first service game and to 15 in his second after two double faults.

At 5-3 Murray served for the set, only to play a poor game during which he repeatedly castigated himself. Successive down-the-line winners gave Marchenko the break, after which Murray sat in his chair at the changeover repeatedly muttering: “Shocking movement, shocking movement.”

The Scot’s mood was not helped in the first set by his confusion over the size of the water bottles given to the players. “I know how much I have to drink when it’s a certain temperature,” he said afterwards. “I couldn’t find how big [the water bottle] was, so I didn’t know how much I was having to drink.”

Marchenko fought valiantly in the first two sets but ran out of gas in the third (Getty)

He added: “I think it can be easy on days like today or tomorrow to get caught out with the conditions. I try to be really professional with my hydration beforehand and during matches just to make sure that I don’t get dehydrated or potentially have problems with cramps.”

During the changeover at 6-5 Murray complained to himself about something being a “f***ing joke”, but fortunately for the Scot Marchenko was continuing to make mistakes. From 30-15 up the 29-year-old Ukrainian made three successive unforced errors to give Murray the set.

There was not much of an improvement in standards in the second set. Murray was broken in the third game, levelled at 4-4, when he was again grateful for his opponent’s mistakes, and went on to win the tie-break 7-5.

Thereafter, things were more straightforward as Murray broke in the third and fifth games of the third set. He went to match point with an ace and converted it, appropriately enough, when Marchenko hit a forehand long.

Murray will face Russia's Andrey Rublev in the second round (Getty)

In the second round on Wednesday Murray will face a qualifier, Andrey Rublev, who beat Yen-Hsun Lu 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 to record his first victory at Grand Slam level. The 19-year-old Russian is currently at a career-high No 152 in the world rankings.

“I never hit with him or played against him, but I've seen him play before and he goes for it,” Murray said. “He doesn't hold back. He hits a big ball.”

Dan Evans, who played in his first tour final in Sydney on Saturday evening, beat Argentina’s Facundo Bagnis 7-6 6-3 6-1 in less than two hours. The 26-year-old Briton trailed 6-3 in the tie-break at the end of the opening set but recovered to win it 10-8 and then made early breaks in both the second and third sets.

“I was a bit more aggressive and started playing up the court a bit more,” Evans said. “I was finding it a bit hard to time the ball, but it was pretty good in the end.”

The win earned Evans a second-round meeting with the world No 7, Marin Cilic, who went two sets down before beating Jerzy Janowicz 4-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.

“It’s going to be tough,” Evans said. “The likelihood is that he will win, but we’ll see what happens. He obviously had a tough one today, so hopefully his body is pretty sore. Hopefully I’ll get into the match, keep it close and then take a chance. I should get a chance somewhere along the line.”

Dan Evans will face Marin Cilic in the second round on Wednesday (Getty)

Britain’s Aljaz Bedene suffered a disappointing 7-6, 7-5, 0-6, 6-3 defeat to the world No 103, the Dominican Republic’s Victor Estrella Burgos, who at 36 is the fifth oldest player in the men’s draw. Bedene went a break up in the first and fourth sets only to let his advantage slip on both occasions.

Bedene, aged 27, was at a career-high position of No 45 in the world rankings just 14 months ago but after a poor 2016 has slipped to No 109.

“I wasn’t great today,” he admitted afterwards. “I was struggling a bit with the heat from 5-4 in the first set and I think I was a bit too passive in the first two sets. I came strong in the third and I think he was struggling physically as well, which was good to see because I was. I went 2-0 up in the fourth but after it went to 2-2 I just went down.”