Things went from bad to worse for Murray - then they finally got better

From the high of winning his first ATP Masters title in Cincinatti a week last Sunday, his Olympic debut had seen a dismal first round singles defeat with the prospect of a doubles exit following immediately.

But a restorative  power nap between the two matches finally seemed to have the desired effect. Britain's best player came on strong towards the end and with brother Jamie he managed to defeat Canada's world No.1 doubles specialist Daniel Nestor and his partner Fred Niemeyer 4-6 6-3 6-4 to make the last 16.

Andy Murray miserably crashed out of the Olympic tennis tournament against Lu Yen-Hsun

Afterwards Murray Jnr. was quick to rationalise a tense and trying evening which had begun with a dreadful 7-6 6-4 reverse against 77th-ranked Lu Yen-Hsun from Chinese Taipei.

'I came here to try to get an Olympic medal and realistically I wasn't going to do both in these conditions,' he claimed. 'I was very disappointed by my defeat in the singles and I don't have any excuses, but it wasn't difficult at all to try to get myself back up for the doubles.

'I would have liked success in either but if I had to pick one to win it would be the doubles, because not many families can say that they have won them together, that really would be something.'

Murray only arrived here on Thursday and, thirteen time zones away from America's mid-West, looked like he had lead shot in his legs against the spirited Hu.

'I've been waking pretty early and I had to be woken up tonight by my fitness trainer after the singles to warm me up,' he said.

'Andy's singles defeat was a bit of a shock. He was a bit flat for the first hour of the doubles and maybe that translated to me but we managed it in the end,' said Jamie, who was the sharper of the two in a match full of errors.

Andy dropped his serve once in each of the first two sets but his class finally showed at the end and another difficult match, against either French duo Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra or Israelis Eyal Erlich and Adny Ram beckons.

Earlier he had displayed the kind of tetchy pre- Wimbledon demeanour you hoped he had left behind, although if there was an Olympic medal for chuntering he would have been a contender.

Constantly castigating himself and sending cries of frustration towards his support team, he missed plentiful opportunities - three set points at 6-5 - and threw in crucial double faults to register his worst defeat since losing to little-known Dutchman Robin Haase in Rotterdam six months ago.