Murray expects Kukushkin test
January 22, 2012 12:31:31 UK
Andy Murray is bidding to reach his third consecutive Australian Open final.Britain's Andy Murray may be ranked 93 places ahead of his Australian Open last 16 opponent Mikhail Kukushkin but the Scot is expecting a difficult encounter.
The world number four faced Kazakhstan's Kukushkin at the Brisbane international in his preparation for Melbourne, with Murray securing a hard-fought 5-7 6-3 6-2 victory.
Murray believes Kukushkin, who has beaten the likes of 19th seed Viktor Troicki and 14th seed Gael Monfils on route to the last 16, is in fine form and the British number one insists he will not take the world number 97 lightly.
"The first six games (in Brisbane) he was unbelievable - he hardly missed a ball; he was hitting it huge," said Murray.
"He's having the best run at a Grand Slam in his career so I need to play well, but I'm looking forward to it."
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Murray, who is 6.00 to win the tournament outright, can be backed at 1.012 to see off Kukushkin.
The Kazakh right-hander is priced at 23.00 to produce yet another shock and reach the last eight.
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