Andy Murray is through to the second round of the Australian Open after his first-round opponent quit in the third set.

No 5 seed Murray already led Karol Beck 6-3 6-1 4-2 before the Slovak retired with a right shoulder injury.

Murray said he was pleased to secure a confidence-boosting victory.
“His serve definitely slowed down towards the end of the match. Up until he hurt himself I thought it was a good match, a lot of good points. I definitely played a lot lot better from late in the second set.”

World number 1 Rafael Nadal made it through to the second round of the Australian Open when his opponent Marcos Daniel was also forced to retire after losing the first 11 games of a one-sided contest.

Nadal, chasing his fourth successive grand slam title after wins last year at the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open, got out to a 6-0, 5-0 lead before Daniel retired with an injury to his left knee.

He wished his opponent a speedy recovery. 

“You don’t want to retire but if you are bad it is for the best so you can recover as quickly as possible. It’s difficult when you have to pull out of a big tournament, last year was a difficult time for me,” Nadal said.

Fourth-seed Robin Soderling also advanced to the second round with an easy straight sets win over Italy’s Potito Starace, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.

And Juan Martin Del Potro, the 2009 US Open winner, also cruised into the second round with a 7-6 (15-13), 6-4, 6-4 with over Israel’s Dudi Sela.