In-Depth: What was up with Andy Murray?

Murray stumbled early in the Australian open, but managed to use his resilience to fight to a straight-set victory over Marchenko.

Murray had many frustrating moments on Rod Laver Arena but a dozy display proved sufficient as the Scot sealed a 7-5 7-6 (7/5) 6-2 victory.

What might be a little concerning for Murray and his coach, Ivan Lendl, is that as he struggled against his opponent, he resumed his habit of muttering to himself in frustration.

As he fought to victory, he shouted, "Wake up!" before adding, "This is a Grand Slam guys, come on". Hardly the worst things to be yelling on the court, but Murray does have a track record of showing his frustration when matches are going against him.

It was only in May 2016 that Murray admitted he was "embarrassed" about shouting at his coaches, and Amelie Mauresmo had hinted it was the reason that they had split up as a team, describing his on-court actions as "disconcerting."

Murray also acknowledged at the time that, "I also say stuff about myself as well. I don't speak well of myself when I'm on the court either." That appeared to be the case against Marchenko today.

Since his split with Mauresmo, Murray has been reunited with Lendl, who has overseen another improvement in his game, which meant Murray started the Australian Open - where he has been losing finalist five times - as world number one. With Lendl in charge, Murray has proved more focused on his game, but this habit might not be one that is easily broken.

Murray said such behaviour has been with him since he "was a kid... it's probably been there since I was young, since I was 11 or 12 years old.'"

In last year's Australian Open, Murray was moved to apologise for his aggressive behaviour, constantly shouting at the players' box and himself during a victory over David Ferrer. At the time, he said, "I'm not particularly proud of the way I've handled myself on the court and I don't think that my behaviour on the court has been impeccable. I've showed a lot of emotion on court and getting upset fro the beginning of matches."

While that was a particularly memorable example, the incident came when his wife was pregnant, in England, and his father-in-law had collapsed. Under such pressure, such an outburst can be excused given the circumstances, and he was quick to acknowledge it wasn't the right course of action.

Ah yes, Murray also got frustrated with the beverages on offer in Melbourne...

Well...

In the end, Murray roused himself against Marchenko to finish the much more impressive player.

It might be tempting for some players and pundits to alight on this as a reason for optimism ahead of Murray's challenges in this tournament, particularly Novak Djokovic, focused on claiming back the number one ranking. But it should be remembered that this isn't out of the ordinary for Murray - he has always had this tendency, and it might well be part of his personality that allows him to overcome difficulties, rather than being the cause of them.

As our studio experts said, he also often takes a while to find his slow in big tournaments...