Andy Murray opened up on his gruelingly long first-round battle with Yannick Hanfmann in the first round of the Swiss Indoors Basel as the former World No. 1 fights for Australian Open seeding.

The three-time Grand Slam champion has had an up-and-down season with some disappointing results despite seeming to be in good form. This was evident over the last month on the Asian Swing as he was defeated in the second round of the Zhuhai Championships and the first round of both the China Open and the Shanghai Masters.

However, Murray was able to move past his opening-round match at the ATP 500 tournament in Switzerland despite having to endure another lengthy clash in order to do so.

Although Murray overcame Hanfmann in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4, the encounter was still very closely contested and ended up lasting two hours and 18 minutes.

After the match, the 36-year-old shared his thoughts on the battle and reflected on his performance.

"It was tough. The first four or five games were something like 45 minutes. I don’t remember having that really before, it was ridiculous.

"And then had a chance at the end of the first set, didn’t get it and just managed to sneak a break at the end. Up again in the second, couldn’t quite finish it, but did well to respond and get the break at the end. Played a great point obviously on the match point to finish," he said.

"Happy to come through," Murray added, "He's [Hanfmann] had a brilliant year and has been playing very well, so it’s a good result."

The Brit is currently ranked as World No. 40 in the ATP Ranking and will be hoping for a deep run here to push him into a seeded position ahead of the Australian Open in January. Following his appearance at the Swiss Indoors, Murray will compete twice more this season, heading to France for the Paris Masters and the Moselle Open in Metz.