Andy Murray didnt have to work too hard to book his place in the 2009 Austrailian open second round. His Romanian opponent Andrei Pavel was forced to retired with the recurrence of a long term back problem.

With less than an hour on the clock Pavel came to the net to shake Murray’s hand with score 6-2 3-1 in Murray’s favour. The Romanian looked in quite a bit of pain and needed assistance to carry his bag has he exited the arena, perhaps the last time we see Pavel in an ATP event.

For Murray though this was a very comfortable work out, it took a few games for Murray to shake off first match cob webs as Pavel was able to keep the score tied untill 2-2 in the first – Murray moved his game in to second gear and rattled of the next 4 games to take the first set comfortably. Pavel then called for the trainer and his condition deteriated from then on and it was no surprise to most when the 34 year old had to throw in the towel.

This first round match for Murray was in stark contrast to that of last year when he was out powered in the first round by eventual finalist Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, a potential quarter finalist opponent for Murray this year.

Murray will next face either Russia’s Teimuraz Gabashvili or Spain’s Marcel Granollers who play later today.

After the match Murray said

I would have liked to go out and play a few more games but I’ll go out and practice today. It would have been nice to get the feeling of the court a little bit more. I’ve prepared as well as I could have and I’ll just have to trust that. When you’re playing matches you’re occupied and so you don’t think about the pressure so it’s good to get the matches under way.

Andy Murray will begin his 2009 grand slam season this morning against world number 1,140 Andrei Pavel in his first round match of the 2009 Australian Open.

The match will be first up on the Rod Laver Arena court and will begin around midnight GMT – You will be able to watch live on BBC 2 or Eurosport.

The pair have met once before, with Murray winning in five dramatic sets 6-3 3-6 3-6 6-1 6-4 in the second round of the US open in 2005. Murray at the time was only 18 and still coached by now Sky Sports commentator mark Petchy and in that particular match an error by Petchy with Murray’s energy drink cause the young Scot to vomit on court.

Murray is now 21, world number 4 and the pre tournament favorite. He is playing a 34 year old, who has not played in nearly a year, there are not many matches when one person is such an overwhelming favorite to win, but the curse of British expectations could hit and we could all be writing the unthinkable tomorrow. Not this time though, Murray will surely prevail.

The draw for the 2009 Australian Open was made on Friday with Andy Murray drawn against Romanian Andrei Pavel in the first round, the 34 year old, Pavel, has been out with injury since Feb 2008 and the Aussie open will be his first event back on tour, is current rank is in the 1000′s, though was ranked mid 70′s just before his injury.   

Murray is in the same half of the draw as world number 1 Rafael Nadal and would meet in semi finals if both made it that far. Roger Federer and defending champion Novak Djokovic are on the opposite side and would also meet in semi finals if both made that stage.

Murray’s quarter contains seeds James Blake (9th), Igor Andreev (18th) and Jo-Wilfred Tsonga (5th) all possible quarter final opponents. Tsonga eliminated Murray in the first round of the 2008 Australian Open and went all the way to the final.

Providing he negotiates the on-paper simple task of beating Andrei Pavel, Murray will play of Russia’s Teimuraz Gabashvili or Spain’s Marcel Granollers in round two with with Japan’s Kei Nishikori or the first possible seeded player Murray could meet Austria’s Jurgen Melzer (31) likely to be waiting in round three. Murray and Melzer met at the same stage of the 2008 US open and played an epic match, with Murray coming from 2 sets down to win 6-7(5) 4-6 7-6(5) 6-1 6-3.

Spaniard Fernando Verdasco  (14th seed) is seeded to be Murray’s round four opponent,