Australian Open 2014: Andy Murray Beats Go Soeda in Straight Sets

Andy Murray cruised through to the Australian Open second round with a straight sets win over Japan's Go Soeda in Melbourne.

The Wimbledon champion completed a 6-1 6-1 6-3 victory in 1 hour and 27 minutes to book a second round meeting with either Vincent Millot or Wayne Odesnik.

And on Murray's return to grand slam action following back surgery which ended his 2013 campaign prematurely, he produced a performance which silences any doubts over his fitness in the soaring Australian heat.

"It was so hot today," said Murray. "It was my first grand slam since the back surgery sio I was taking nothing for granted so I was pretty happy to win in straight sets.

"When you haven't played for a while you're pretty stressed out to know how you'll get on and how your back is going to respond but it felt good today. Hopefully I'll wake up tomorrow and there are no after effects of the match. It's been a good start for me and hopefully I can keep it going

"I've been training in Miami for about five weeks to try and get ready for this. I was training at about 30 degrees. You can't prepare yourself for this [the heat of Australia] the air is so hot.

"There are a lot of players struggling to I am just glad to get getting off quickly because any long match is tough to recover from.

"I've always had good support here. It's a tournament that I've come close at a few times with three finals. I'm obviously more confident than I was a few years ago but I'm lacking a bit of match practise so I just need the crowd behind me and I'll go one better this year."

Following earlier wins for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Roger Federer on day two, the Brit required a statement of intent as he went in search of a fourth final in five attempts at the year's opening grand slam.

Soeda, the world No.112, provided little resistance in the opening set as Murray broke as early as the third game as the underdog, forced to go for his shots in the opening exchanges in an attempt to unsettle his opponent, strung together a series of errors.

The 26 year old Murray claimed the first set in just 23 minutes and was quickly into the ascendency in the second, taking a 3-0 lead.

And in just 26 minutes the two-time grand slam had a two-set lead as Murray continued to flex his major title muscle in supreme fashion.

He was made to work for the third set however, being taken to 3-3 before claiming the decisive break of serve and subsequently closing out the match in three sets in a performance which represented a convincing example of his title credentials down under.