ANDY MURRAY stepped up his practice yesterday with a session lasting well over two hours in temperatures around the 30ÚC mark at Melbourne Park.

Under the gaze of coach Ivan Lendl the Wimbledon champion worked up a sweat against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.

Today he will stretch himself a little further in ever-increasing heat against Lleyton Hewitt in an exhibition at Kooyong, the venue for the Australian Open until it moved to Melbourne Park in 1988.

The Grand Slam event, starting on Monday with Murray seeded No.4, will be the Scot's first Grand Slam contest since back surgery in September.

British women's No.1 Laura Robson appears set to risk a niggling injury in her left wrist to play, with plenty of points to defend after reaching the third round last year.

Meanwhile, Murray could be considering taking on a Davis Cup doubles role alongside brother Jamie for Britain's World Group first-round tie with the United States.

British No.2 Dan Evans lost tamely in the second round of qualifying rounds for the Australian Open in Melbourne yesterday watched by Davis Cup captain Leon Smith.

Smith is now likely to reconsider his options on who should get the second singles spot behind Murray against the US in San Diego next month.

Smith may be tempted to go with Kyle Edmund, 19, and ranked 374, who trained with Murray for three weeks last month. With the US likely to win the second singles, the doubles takes on greater significance and Jamie Murray could return to the fold alongside his brother.