Andy Murray set to rally to his cause

Obviously it was a little bit awkward, kind of hanging there in the air, but I think we both played a decent match. “Plays predominantly from the back of the court”, he said. First time I even practised on it today’. And I haven’t really watched a live match and thought “this is being fixed”.

A scintillating cross-court forehand from the Scot saved a break point in the third game and then two irretrievable serves diverted another in the fifth as Sousa failed to make his strong start count.

Murray was lobbing and passing at will and such was his complete mastery of his opponent, all Groth could do was shake his head and offer a wry smile.

“I played much better in my second match than on the first day”.

“And from the back of the court, maybe because I wasn’t hitting loads of balls, I wasn’t hitting the ball from the back of the court as well as I did against [Alexander] Zverev”.

“It helps to see someone’s game”.

“I think for anyone who is innocent, whose name gets talked about with that stuff, then you feel sorry for them if they have done nothing wrong”, Murray told national newspapers. “He’s too good of a player not to do that against and not a guy you want to get behind against either”.

Yet at the same time, he believes that while the rumours, allegations and unsubstantiated claims are bad for the image of the game and its players, the end result may be a cleaner sport and more transparent policing in the future.

Murray is certainly having to show good timing on and off the court to phone home with Melbourne 11 hours ahead of the UK.

“I would actually like to know if there was any match that I was involved in that had any irregular betting patterns around it or anything like that”.

Konta took control of the match by breaking serve in the fourth game and won the set four games later with another break.

Hewitt’s 20th bid to win the Australian Open ended in a 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 second-round loss to eighth-seeded David Ferrer on Thursday night, his last singles match as a pro.

Former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic was up a service break and leading qualifier Anastasija Sevastova 4-3 in the first set of their third-round match when play was stopped to allow medical personnel to come to the aid of the spectator.

Tournament organizers said the spectator was treated in the stadium before being taken by stretcher for observation and more treatment.

“Obviously there’s tension, there’s nerves from me, my opponent, the hundreds of people around me and the situation as it is in the match”, Konta said. “I played really well, especially in the beginning”.

“I hope to encounter that every time I play because it means there’s a lot of enjoyment there and good competitiveness”.

She beat Alison Van Uytvanck 6-0, 6-0 in the first round at Melbourne Park.

The change in atmosphere did not, however, faze the British number one, who hit 26 winners to Zheng’s nine and confirmed a comfortable victory in an hour and 22 minutes.

“It just really didn’t sound so good”. That will give me a lot more opportunities to do some damage. “I said everything I needed to say two days ago”. He was involved in some memorable matches at Melbourne Park, though, including a run to the 2005 final, which he lost to Marat Safin. They are in what has become a very open part of the draw that has No 9 seed Karolina Pliskova as the highest-ranked player left in it.