Andy Murray said he would need to hit the practice courts to retain his sharpness after his "boring" stroll into the quarter-finals following an injury retirement at the Australian Open.
The British fourth seed was on court for only 49 minutes before his Kazakh opponent Mikhail Kukushkin retired early in the third set with a hip flexor injury.
Murray, who will face Japan's 24th seed Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals, said he was bored by his one-sided match with Kukushkin which he won 6-1, 6-1, 1-0.
"Yeah, it's just boring. There was nothing happening on the court," Murray said of the match against his 92nd-ranked opponent.
"I didn't have to do anything. Just hitting the ball in the court and he wasn't running. He was making mistakes the first or second ball of the rally," Murray added, saying there was no atmosphere.
Murray, a beaten finalist in the past two Australian Opens, said while he was happy to conserve energy in the sapping heat, he needed to put in some work to prepare for tougher matches ahead.
"It's perfect because you conserve energy. You just need to make sure, you know, today and tomorrow you hit enough balls to make sure you don't lose any rhythm.
"Because there were no rallies out there, I need to make sure I move around a little bit so I don't stiffen up in any way.
"But you can't look at it as a negative. At this stage of the tournament to be off the court in 45 minutes or so isn't bad."
Murray, bidding to become Britain's first male grand slam winner since Fred Perry in 1936, said he was improving with each round.
"I'll definitely be fresh for the next few rounds hopefully. Just need to make sure I do the right things the next couple days to get ready for the quarters," he said.
Kukushkin, who lost to Murray in Brisbane earlier this month, said his hip injury had restricted his running and his serve.
"Today, unfortunately, I was not able to show anything, to play, to compete, especially at this level," he said.
AFP
Tags: australian-open, tennis, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia First posted January 23, 2012 13:58:22
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