Andy Murray has overcome the spirited challenge of Yuki Bhambri to reach the Australian Open second round.
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The sixth seed, who has reached the final in Melbourne on three occasions, was far from his best against the Indian qualifier but he came through a poor start to the third set to prevail 6-3 6-4 7-6.
Despite Bhambri showing few nerves on the Margaret Court Arena, he soon fell a break of serve behind, before a couple of errors from Murray allowed the lowest-ranked player in the draw back into the set.
However, Murray upped the ante in Bhambri's next service game to regain his advantage before confidently serving out the set to love.
Dropping the opener was a blow to Bhambri, but impressively, he remained unnerved as he shared the opening six games of the second set with the Scot.
Murray was far from his best though, and once he began to find his range, he was able to break through the Indian's serve for the third time in the match before moving one away from a place in the second round.
It wouldn't be plain sailing for the 27-year-old as Bhambri moved into a 4-1 lead at the start of the third before Murray clawed his way back to 5-5.
Both players held serve to take the set into a tie-break and Murray's experience came to the fore, creating four match points before confirming victory on the second when Bhambri went long.
Darren Plant
