FIFTH seed Andy Murray was happy to quickly wrap up his first-round match with qualifier Kevin Anderson on a wet and windy opening day at the Australian Open.

The Scot conceded just four games as he swept aside the 6ft 8in South African 6-1 6-1 6- 2.

The match was played under the Rod Laver Arena roof because of the conditions outside, which resulted in more than 20 matches across the men’s and women’s singles draws being cancelled for the day.

Play had been halted on four separate occasions on the outside courts and Murray admitted he was happy to avoid such delays and book his place in the second round.

‘‘It’s good to get the match out of the way today because it’s a long day for a lot of the players because of the weather outside,’’ said Murray, who admitted he had expected more of a fight from South Africa’s top-ranked player.

‘‘Obviously it’s good to get finished quickly.

‘‘It is a good start. He’s a tough player. He’s beaten (Novak) Djokovic before in Miami and he’s won a tour event.

‘‘He’s 6ft 8in so I wasn’t expecting it to be easy.

‘‘I just got off to a good start which helped. I broke him straightaway which always makes a big difference.’’ Murray was quickly out of the blocks as he raced into a 5-0 lead before taking the first set in 29 minutes to set the pattern for the remainder of the match.

The 22-year-old never gave his opponent a chance from there as he broke six of Anderson’s first eight service games to drain any pre-match optimism he may have retained after coming through qualifying, where he was not broken once, to reach the main draw.

The only negative in Murray’s display was on serve where he only managed to get a paltry 35 per cent of first services in play, but the Scot hardly had reason to be downbeat.

‘‘I’d like to have served bit better,’’ he said.

‘‘But I feel good. I got here ten days earlier than I’ve done in the last three years.

‘‘I feel good and I think that match proved it.’’ He added: ‘‘He didn’t get broken in the whole of qualifying. It was a tough first round for me.’’ After racing through the opening set Murray again immediately broke in the second set when Anderson miscued a simple volley wide.

The 23-year-old South African had his chance to break back, but squandered three break-point opportunities.

Murray extricated himself from the danger with consecutive backhand crosscourt winners as Anderson advanced to the net, before serving it out with an ace.

The match already looked within Murray’s keeping and he looked to get to the net more often and take control against his lumbering opponent.

The tactic worked as he broke three more times in the set to clinch it 6-1, with the pressure showing on Anderson who double-faulted to go two sets down.

With the South African now resigned to his fate both players ambled through the final set before Murray clinched the match with his seventh break.

Murray will next play the winner of the match between Marc Gicquel and Simon Bolelli, which was postponed yesterday due to the adverse weather.