Australian Open 2013: Andy Murray eyes improvement after win

Andy Murray admits he will need to step his game up at the Australian Open after the British No1 reached the fourth round with a straight-sets win over Ricardas Berankis.

Murray took two hours and 12 minutes to see off his Lithuanian opponent 6-3 6-4 7-5 in Melbourne to set up a last-16 clash with 14th seed Gilles Simon.

But the Scot was far from his best and concedes that he will need to improve if he is to continue his progress in Melbourne.

“I just focus on the next match,” said Murray. “I’ll need to play better than I did today. Playing matches and winning, that normally helps.”

He added: “I’m aware I’ll need to improve. But you also don’t necessarily want to be playing your best tennis the first round of a Grand Slam or of any tournament. You want to try and improve as the matches go on.

“I’m sitting here happy that I’m through to the fourth round having not having played my best tennis today. Hopefully I’ll improve for the next one.”

The 25-year-old insists that he needs no reminding of the threat posed by Simon in the next round after the Frenchman beat his compatriot Gael Monfils in a gruelling five-setter to book his place in the last 16.

“He’s caused guys lots of problems before,” said Murray of Simon. “He pushed Roger to a very tough five-set match here a few years ago.

“He’s getting closer to the top 10 in the world. He had his own injury problems as well.”