World number four Andy Murray's build-up in his quest for a first major had an uneasy start when he laboured to a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 victory over the unheralded Mikhail Kukushkin in the Brisbane International first round.
The 24-year-old Briton, who has recently recruited eight-times major winner Ivan Lendl as his coach, had a poor start when the Kazak went out to a 3-0 lead in the first set.
Kukushkin, ranked 91st in the world, then suffered stage fright on the main Pat Rafter Arena court and allowed the Scot back into the match though he was able to recover enough to seal the first set in just over an hour.
The first-set loss seemed to kick Murray into gear and he romped out to a 4-1 lead in the second set and never looked back with the final two sets taking less time than the first.
Murray, preparing for the Australian Open in Melbourne later this month, served out to advance to the second round in just under two hours and 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, hard-hitting Belgian Kim Clijsters dealt Ana Ivanovic another psychological blow with a come-from-behind victory.
Clijsters fought back from 0-3 down in the final set to defeat Ivanovic 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 in the second round match.
She has now won all five straight matches against Ivanovic and it is the second straight encounter in which the Serbian has blown a third-set lead to the 2011 Australian Open champion.
Ivanovic led 5-1 in the quarter-final in Miami last year and lost.
On Tuesday night she held an early service break in the last set before capitulating.
It was in complete contrast to the previous 30 minutes when Ivanovic fought back from losing the first set in 21 minutes to rattle off nine of the next 10 games.
Yet the match was turned on its head when Clijsters finally found touch and left Ivanovic flat-footed and the crowd stunned.
Clijsters' hot and cold form was there to see in the statistics with 30 unforced errors and 23 winners.
She delivered just two aces.
Clijsters will now meet either US Open champion Sam Stosur or Czech Iveta Benesova, who meet on Wednesday, in a quarter-final.
Reuters/AAP
Tags: tennis, sport, brisbane-4000 First posted January 04, 2012 01:12:31
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