• Australian Open, Day Four

Murray won't be caught short against Berankis

Andy Murray controlled his match with Joao Sousa © Getty Images

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Andy Murray will be well prepared for Ricardas Berankis, as the No. 3 seed has revealed the Lithuanian is one of his regular hitting partners.

Murray has oozed quality in his wins over Robin Haase and Joao Sousa, spending a shade over three and a half hours on court in total.

The rising temperatures in Melbourne have not caused Murray any problems, with his taxing training regime in Miami helping with that regard, and he will be ready for Berankis.

"I actually hit with him a lot," Murray said. "I trained with him before the Australian Open last year. I practiced with him in Brisbane and I practiced with him a couple times before the tournament here, before he started the qualifying last year. I practiced with him again in Brisbane this year.

"He works hard. He's a really nice, really nice guy. It's nice to see him do well because we spend quite a bit of time practicing together.

"He is not that tall and he hits the ball pretty big from the back of the court. He plays aggressive. He's a very flat hitter of the ball."

Berankis powered to a straight-sets win over Florian Mayer, which caught Murray's eye. He said: "He's obviously playing well to beat a guy like Mayer that comfortably. It was a very good win."

Commenting on the conditions, Murray said: "It wasn't that bad on the court, honestly. When the sun came out, it was extremely hot. When it wasn't, it was fine. There was no humidity. They said it was like eight per cent humidity. When you get the combination of the heat and the humidity is when it's normally at its worst. I've played in worse conditions, but it's still very hot."

Murray has ruled out taking a leaf out of his coach Ivan Lendl's book and donning a pair of short shorts.

"I actually wore a pair at Wimbledon when I was with Fred Perry that were short," he said. "Not quite like what Ivan and those guys used to wear on the court. I can't see a return to them, to be honest. They were a bit too short. Didn't leave too much to the imagination!"

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