The top seed had little trouble in seeing off his teenage opponent 6-3 6-0 6-2, but fears were raised for his third-round encounter with Sam Querrey after the Scot rolled his right ankle in game three of the final set.

However, world number one Murray quickly shrugged off the incident, saying on-court: "It's just a little sore. It's not too serious. 

"I definitely rolled it a bit and I'm sure I'll get some ice on it tonight. I was moving OK. I can put weight on it."

Murray, a five-time losing finalist at Melbourne Park, looked calm and assured for the majority of this encounter against his Russian opponent, ranked 152nd in the world.

The 19 year-old Rublev showed promise, but ultimately the experience and rock-solid defence of Murray proved unshakeable.

Rublev matched Murray stroke-for-stroke in the early stages, but found himself 4-2 down as a deft drop-shot from the Scot forced an error.

A Murray ace and an errant Rublev forehand sealed the first set, and the favourite took that momentum into the second, breaking immediately thanks to a simple volley.

Rublev missed a straightforward overhead smash to hand Murray a 3-0 advantage and there was no let-up, as Murray secured a third consecutive break before sealing the second set with cross-court forehand.

Murray rolled his ankle chasing down a ball at 1-1 in the third, but Rublev failed to capitalise on the Scot's ill-fortune, a double fault conceding a cheap break.

Although Murray was not moving altogether freely, he was able to force another break and secure his place in the third round with few concerns as Rublev went long.