Australian Open 2014, Andy Murray v Vincent Millot: live

Follow build-up and game-by-game commentary of the Australian Open second-round match between Andy Murray and Vincent Millot at Melbourne Park on Thursday January 16, 2014.

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Andy Murray digs deep to win 23 consecutive points and defeat Vincent Millot in second round of Australian Open

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There was a bagpiper out on the banks of the Yarra River this morning, accompanied a cardboard cutout of Andy Murray. But it was a long wait for both of them before the real Murray finally fought his way into the third round of the Australian Open at two minutes to midnight, local time.

Part of the delay was caused by a couple of long women’s matches on Rod Laver Arena – Maria Sharapova spent 3hr 28min over hers – and the closing of the roof in mid-afternoon when the “extreme heat policy” had to be applied.

Did Murray also allow himself to be kept out on court for longer than was strictly necessary? A harsh critic might say so. He was playing the lowest-ranked player left in the draw, world No 267 Vincent Millot of France, and could have been expected to breeze through in about 90 minutes.

But then Millot turned out to be a Jekyll-and-Hyde sort of tennis player: woeful one minute and brilliant the next. The third set was a real head-scratcher as Millot won four games in a row to go to 5-1. He even had a set point in the next game, but Murray roused himself to construct a fine point that he clinched with a backhand winner.

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This was the start of a 23-point unbroken sequence that made you wonder if Murray was trying to beat some kind of midnight curfew, as he famously did at Wimbledon against Marcos Baghdatis a couple of years ago (although that one was only 11pm).

“It was 6-5 when I went to serve for it, and someone shouted out, ‘You won 19 in a row,’” Murray explained afterwards. “I would say that's probably the most I'd ever won in my career by far.”

Murray’s bare statistics were not impressive, by his high standards, as he committed 31 unforced errors to place alongside his 25 winners. But he still powered through to the next round by a 6-2, 6-2, 7-5 margin, taking 2hrs 1min, and can now look forward to a meeting with old foe Feliciano Lopez on Saturday.

“Today I found tricky,” said Murray afterwards. “I found the opponent tricky. I found the conditions tricky. And I maybe didn't adjust as well as I would have liked. But I did okay.

“I played well in my first match; today, not so well. That's what it's going to be like for me now,” added Murray, who is coming back from a four-month lay-off following spinal surgery. “I'm going to have ups and downs. I just have to get through them and the consistency will come.”

Millot had joked before the match that he it was good of the organisers to jock Roger Federer off Rod Laver Arena to make room for him.

Yet it was also a strange call, given that he has only won one grand slam match in his career – Tuesday’s meeting with Wayne Odesnik. How would he react to playing in front of 15,000 people on one of the greatest stages in tennis?

Not brilliantly, was the answer after the first three games, as Millot coughed up no fewer than 10 unforced errors. One regulation forehand bounced before it reached the net.

But things improved from there, or at least became more competitive, as Murray rather lost concentration and began to play some indifferent tennis himself. A pair of double-faults helped Millot get off the mark by breaking serve in the fourth game.

The Frenchman’s most skilful early touch was the little backheel he played off a loose ball, passing it neatly to a bellboy, in keeping with his background as a potential professional footballer. (His father played for St Etienne alongside Michel Platini and his uncle won three caps for the French national side).

After coming through qualifying, he has played a lot of tennis in the last week, so it was not hugely surprising when Millot took an injury time-out late in the second set to deal with a sore calf. He had also been doing a lot of running. It often felt as if Murray was standing in the centre of the baseline and making him perform shuttles to left and right like in a drill.

But then, in the third set, a match broke out. What had the trainer given Millot? He decided to swing for everything and for a 20 minute spell his racket had the Midas touch. There were aces and return winners and some scorching drives down the line off both wings.

Murray finally broke back to move to 2-5, and then the magic dried up as abruptly as it had arrived. “He had been stepping right up to the baseline and hitting winners, basically,” Murray said afterwards.

“He’s ranked I think around 270 in the world. It shows what depth there is in the game just now and I thought he played a very good match.”

Murray also gave an update on his brother Jamie, who had suffered from heat stroke after playing – and winning - a doubles match before play was suspended at 1.52pm.

“He wasn’t in a great way,” Murray said. “It’s never happened to him before, having cramps like that either. When one part of your body goes and then, when you move, the opposite muscle goes. I don't know how dangerous they are, but they're very, very uncomfortable. When it happens the first time, it's pretty scary.

“So we just tried to make sure someone was with him throughout the day. You know, he drunk loads when he got off the court, and was finding it quite hard to eat. Hopefully he'll be fine tomorrow.”

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Andy Murray: I was distracted by Jamie's woe during Australian Open second-round defeat of Vincent Millot

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This was another day of biblical extremes at the Australian Open: first searing temperatures, and then thunder, lightning and intense humidity. It was all too much for Jamie Murray, Andy’s older brother, who developed such serious heat exhaustion that he was laid low by multiple cramps.

Andy Murray also looked a little out of sorts as he played a peculiar match against Vincent Millot, the squat French left-hander who – at No 267 in the world – was the lowest-ranked player left in the men’s draw. But then, as Murray Jnr explained, he found it tricky to focus while his brother was racked with pain.

“What was happening with Jamie was more important than my match,” said Murray after his up-and-down 6-2, 6-2, 7-5 win. “It was a little distracting as well and you just try not use up any extra energy.”

After beating Go Soeda on Tuesday, Murray had already questioned whether the authorities at Melbourne Park are too cavalier with the players’ health and safety.

But this was different. It was his own flesh and blood.

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“It is easy to say Jamie was only playing doubles and it’s not as physically demanding as the singles,” Andy explained.

“It wasn’t so much that he was cramping but that he was scared. He’s never dealt with anything like that before and being on your own, it’s difficult, so I tried to make sure someone was around him the whole day.”

At least both Murray brothers won their matches. Jamie was playing with his regular partner John Peers, a Melburnian by birth, against two more Australians: Matt Reid and Luke Saville. They scored a 7-6, 7-6 victory in 1 hr 50 min, and it was not until later that Jamie’s exertions began to catch up with him.

“He was a bit tired and sore when he came off the court,” said Murray, “but then it hit him like an hour and a half later. I’ve never had it like that.

“He was struggling for a good three, four hours after the match. He’s never had real cramps like that either. I don’t know how dangerous they are, but they’re very, very uncomfortable. One part of your body goes, and then, when you move, the opposite muscle goes. When it happens the first time, it’s pretty scary.

"Hopefully he’ll be fine tomorrow.”

Murray and Peers had started their match in the Rod Laver Arena soon after 11am, when the temperature stood in the high nineties.

A couple of hours later, the mercury climbed above 110F (43C) for the first time in this extraordinary week, prompting tournament referee Wayne McEwan to invoke the “extreme heat rule” and suspend play for around four hours.

Not before time, said many of the players.

Later, a deluge of gobstopper-sized raindrops flooded the courts and knocked the singles players even further behind schedule. Andy Murray was far from being the last man off court when he finally subdued Millot at 11.58pm.

Having been 5-1 down in the third set, he saved a set point in the next game, and then sprinted for the line with an unbroken sequence of 23 straight points.

Although Murray once won 14 straight points against Feliciano López – the Spaniard who also happens to be his next opponent here – he reckoned that this was comfortably the longest streak of his career.

Millot, who had won only one grand slam match in his career, made an unpredictable opponent. How would he react to playing in front of 15,000 people on one of the greatest stages in tennis?

Not brilliantly, was the answer after three games. One regulation forehand bounced before it reached the net. But then, at the start of the third set, he suddenly started playing like the eponymous Laver – another powerfully built 5ft 8in leftie.

For 20 minutes, there were aces and return winners and some scorching drives down the line off both wings.

Then Murray broke back to move to 2-5, and the magic dried up as abruptly as it had arrived.

So now for Saturday’s third-round match against López, a man Murray holds a 7-0 head-to-head record against. Although perhaps this López will be different, given that he shaved off his trademark Pre-Raphaelite locks on New Year’s Day.

“I was in the ice bath with him after our first-round match and talking to him about it,” said Murray. “He got the all clear from his girlfriend before he did it, no bets or New Year resolutions. But for me his hair was something that made him Feliciano. He’s a bit different now.”

One woman who may be disappointed is Murray’s mother Judy, who once gave López the self-explanatory nickname “Deliciano”.

“What can I say?” López smiled. “Judy is so fine.”

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