British title hope Andy Murray knows from experience he is in for an Australian Open fight against unseeded Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin.
In-form Scot Andy Murray is one of the few people not surprised he will be playing unseeded Kazakhstan youngster Mikhail Kukushkin in the fourth round of the Australian Open.
Murray’s progression was in line with expectations, his 6-4 6-2 6-0 rout of Frenchman Michael Llodra on Saturday night continuing the excellent form that has him on an unbeaten eight-match streak this year.
That run started in the Brisbane International against 24-year-old Kukushkin.
While Murray downed the Kazakh on that occasion, he had to fight back from a set down.
So the British title hope said it did not shock him that Kukushkin had eliminated seeds Serb Viktor Troicki and flashy Frenchman Gael Monfils, both in five-setters, to set up the fourth round meeting.
“He was very good when I played him,” Murray said.
“When I played him in Brisbane, the first six games he was unbelievable. He hardly missed a ball.
“He was hitting the ball huge, going pretty much down the line on every shot and cleaning lines.
“I mean, to me it’s not that unexpected.”
Murray, the losing finalist in the past two years, is pretty happy with his own progression through the tournament, saying he is getting better with each match.
“My movement was way better (against Llodra) than the first two matches. I moved great,” Murray said.
“That’s a good sign for me because when I move well, the rest of my game goes well. That was the most pleasing thing for me.
“But I need to keep improving, do things a bit better each round. I did a lot of things better, so I look forward to the next one.”
The most notable change for Murray this year has been the recent appointment of Czech legend Ivan Lendl as his coach.
But the 24-year-old Scot said the greatest benefits of that relationship were unlikely to emerge until after the Open.
“Before the tournament, it was only five or six days we’ve been working together. He’ll be seeing things in my matches that, you know, I can’t work on just now, so I’ll do that after the tournament’s done obviously,” he said.