Andy Murray says he is proud of his double's comeback with Dan Evans after admitting it was a new career experience having to save five match points.

Team GB looked set to crash out of the Olympics in the first round, but a thrilling match instead saw them prevail 2-6 7-6 (7-5) 11-9 against Japan's Kei Nishikori and Taro Daniels.

Having already forced a tie-break in the second set, Murray and Evans had to dig deep once again in the decider after going 9-4 down, and remarkably saved five match points before booking their place in the next round.

Murray, who is set to retire at the end of the Olympics, lauded Evans for the part he played in the dramatic fightback that has prolonged his career by at least one more match.

"I don't think I've saved five match points in a row – in singles it's almost impossible to do that, so I don't think I've ever done that before," Murray said after their win.

"It's probably up there in terms of comebacks – probably the way we were playing to that stage would have not suggested we were able to come back.

"In my career, I've turned around a lot of matches I've looked unlikely to win or people thought I shouldn't have won - at times I've had that mental toughness, strength that was at times early on in my career was questioned.

"I'm really proud of that - I always try my best to fight and figure out ways to come through. I certainly couldn't have done that on my own today – as a team, Evo played his part in that.

"Evo has shown that before and helped me big time today. We both served well, came up with some great returns, and it was a brilliant turnaround."

Murray and Evans will face either Belgium's Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen or France's Arthur Fils and Ugo Humbert in the next round.