ANDY MURRAY is hoping a change of diet can help him beat the painful cramps that almost wrecked his US Open dream.

The 27-year-old Scot believes something he ate or drank led to his injury crisis during the dramatic first-round victory over Robin Haase in New York.

At two sets up and cruising, Murray was hit with a series of agonising muscular spasms at the start of the third set, which he went on to lose 6-1.

Then, with the Dutchman 5-3 up in the fourth and his opponent still clearly suffering, the 2012 champ staged a storming comeback to win the next four games and keep his dreams of a third Grand Slam title alive.

Afterwards Murray said: "The fact that it was the whole body that was cramping would suggest that maybe it was something to do with my eating or drinking.

"If it had been just fatigue in one part of my body then that would probably be down to conditioning. But I was cramping even in my left forearm, which I didn't use a lot compared with other parts of my body."

Murray added: "I'll maybe speak to a nutritionist and look at what I've eaten the last three, four days. I don't know exactly what happened but I will try to get to the bottom of it before I play again."

It took Murray three hours and eight minutes to clinch his 6-3, 7-6 (8/6), 1-6, 7-5 victory.

Before the tournament he had declared he has was in his best physical shape of the year after a tough training camp with his team in Miami.

"I felt extremely good before the match," the British No.1 said, "and I did train very, very hard to get ready for this.

"So the cramp problem was unexpected and therefore quite difficult mentally to deal with.

"When it starts to go everywhere, you don't know where it will creep up next.When you stretch one muscle, something else then cramps, too.

"I didn't feel incredibly tired, it just happened. It was tough and very unexpected.

"It's the worst I have ever felt after an hour and a half of a tennis match. That's what was worrying about it, it came on after such a short time.

"So it's unlikely it was down to poor physical condition. I don't know if it's something I have done in the last few days that's been wrong or not but I need to find out why.

The silver lining for Murray was that somehow he managed to find a way to win.

He added: "I'm happy about that because I could have easily lost. I was very close to losing the match. I certainly would not have been the favourite if it had gone to five sets."

NEXT up for Murray tomorrow is German qualifier Matthias Bachinger, who surprisingly beat Czech Radek Stepanek for his first-ever win at a Grand Slam event.

Ranked at 235 in the world, he had not even expected to be invited over for the qualifying tournament. In the event he flew in from Europe the day before his first match.

Then a series of victories set him up for his first-round clash with Stepanek, which he won with ease in straight sets.

Bachinger, 27, said: "I played unbelievable tennis against him. I think it was my best match ever."

The German revealed he's never played in a professional match against Murray, who is a month younger, but they were briefly junior rivals.

"When we were 14 we played each other a few times," said Bachinger. "I beat him once in Italy, 7-6 in the third. I've never forgotten that because even in juniors he was really good. Then I lost to him three times.

"Murray would always fight for every ball, just like he does now. You could already see that he would be a top star."

Bachinger added: "I saw the end of Murray's match here when he was cramping a little bit. I was very surprised but he is human, not a machine.

"And in the end he won, like he usually does.

"The good thing for me is that I'm in good form. I know it will be really tough but I just want to go out there and enjoy every minute, every ball."