Australian Open: Andy Murray plotting to become more clinical

Murray marked his return to Melbourne Park in typically-dramatic fashion by defeating Nikoloz Basilashvili in close to four hours – the third tight match he has had against the Georgian in six months.

But it is not just Basilashvili that Murray finds a difficult opponent to put away and the Scot has spent a lot of time thinking about the best way to try to be more efficient on court.

He said: “Obviously, in some of the matches that I have played I wouldn’t expect, even if I was playing at my peak, necessarily to win in straight sets.

“A match like Basilashvili against someone who is in the 20s in the world, it’s always going to be difficult. But obviously it would be nice to have some quicker ones.

“That’s where I have had this discussion with my team and we were talking about trying to shorten matches and ways to play quicker points.

“It’s difficult to get the balance because if, right now, I’m playing 20 in the world level tennis then, if I’m playing anyone that’s in the top 50, those matches are going to be very, very competitive and difficult to win.

“If you start trying to play a different style of tennis and try to shorten points and everything, and you maybe make a few more mistakes or maybe don’t break serve as much, that also can prolong matches, as well.

“Playing my game style but playing it at a higher level, I think will give me the best chance of shortening matches.

“When I look back at a lot of my matches in 2015, 2016, I was quite efficient and clinical, when I had opportunities and when I was ahead of guys, I’d finish them off quickly. Right now, because I’m not quite playing at that level, the matches are maybe a little bit tighter. So, hopefully, if I can continue to improve my level, I’ll be able to shorten some matches.”

On paper, Daniel is a much-less fearsome opponent than Basilashvili. The Japanese qualifier is ranked 120th and took only five games off Murray in three sets in their only previous meeting in Davis Cup in 2016.

Murray is one of four British players through to the second round along with fellow grand slam champion Emma Raducanu, Dan Evans and Heather Watson, who gets 29th seed and last year’s French Open semi-finalist Tamara Zidansek, whom she lost a very close match to in Adelaide last week.