Andy Murray hopes to avoid another marathon match when he starts his latest Australian Open campaign against Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

Five-time finalist Murray, 36, plays 30th seed Etcheverry at about 16:30 local time in Melbourne (05:30 GMT).

The pair played for over three hours in their two meetings last year, both of which were played across three sets.

“I made most of my matches quite physical last year. I don’t know if it was necessarily him,” Murray joked.

Britain’s Murray tended to do things the hard way in 2023, particularly in the early part of the season when his first seven wins of the year went to deciding sets.

The first of those victories came at the Australian Open, where Murray beat Italy’s Matteo Berrettini in almost five hours before recovering to clinch victory over Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis in a match lasting almost six hours and finishing at 04:05 local time.

The seventh win of the run came against 24-year-old Etcheverry, with Murray coming through 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 6-4 victory at Indian Wells after three hours and 12 minutes.

The pair met again at Basel in October, where Murray lost 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-2 after another three-hour tussle.

“He has a game that can make the matches that way,” world number 44 Murray said.

“Again, I know that last year when I wasn’t serving well, you end up getting into lots more long rallies.

“Because of the way I return, I put quite a lot of returns back in play, you can end up getting into lots of long points when that’s the case and matches will go on.

“Hopefully that’s not the case on Monday.”