Mischa Zverev had no doubt his plan to "destroy" the rhythm of Andy Murray would succeed in their Australian Open fourth-round encounter.

Zverev was fully committed to a serve-and-volley style that world number one Murray was unable to find a response to, the German winning 7-5 5-7 6-2 6-4.

The 29-year-old – who dropped out of the top 1,000 in March 2015 following a series of injuries – is enjoying his best run at a grand slam, reaching his first quarter-final.

Zverev was confident in his ability to dismantle Murray but admitted he had no back-up plan if his initial tactics failed to work.

"It was definitely the best match of my life, not only because it was a best-of-five set match, it was at a slam. It was just incredible," said Zverev.

"I believed in myself. I believed in my game. I believed that playing serve and volley against him and slicing a lot, trying to destroy his rhythm was going to work, which it did in the end.

"I felt like I could hang in there with him, you know, sometimes rally and come in quickly. I feel like everything just worked out well.

"I knew there was no 'Plan B' really. Like, I can't stay on the baseline, a couple feet behind the baseline, try to out-rally him. He's very strong physically. He has a good baseline game.

"I knew I had to come in. That was my only chance to win. So, yeah, honestly there was no 'Plan B' for me, so that's all I could do.

"I knew I could get to him with my game. I knew I could slice a lot, come in, try to annoy him, which worked."

Amid the rising pressure on Rod Laver Arena, Zverev looked to his parents in a bid to help maintain his composure.

He said: "You try to distract yourself by doing the right thing on the court. I kept looking at my box. My mom was always smiling. That helps. My dad's focused. Everybody else was just chilling.

"I feel like there's a good atmosphere going on, which keeps me entertained and focused on the court, and then tried to stay positive, which worked out."