For the eleventh time in the open era, a British man faces one of the top two seeds in the Australian Open and it is unlikely that any match — even the 1977 final in Kooyong, when John Lloyd should not have lost to the late, lamented Vitas Gerulaitis — can have captured the imagination as completely as Andy Murray’s collision with Rafael Nadal this morning under the lights of the Rod Laver Arena.

From Gerald Battrick’s third-round match against Tony Roche, the No 1 seed in 1970, to Greg Rusedski’s meeting six years ago with Gustavo Kuerten, when the Brazilian was the world No 1 and Rusedski won 9-7 in the fifth set, the draws are liberally sprinkled with such compelling jousts.

Yet there is something about Murray versus Nadal that excites and fascinates like no other. There are few in the corridors of Melbourne Park willing to pin their colours totally to the British No 1’s mast but, equally, no one can bring themselves to write him off. The two have not met, the Spanish No 2 seed has never lost on the tour to a younger player, Murray does not understand what subservience means and theirs is a resplendent contrast of styles and characters.

“A beautiful match-up,” Jim Courier, the former world No 1 and champion here in 1992 and 1993, said last night. “Murray is a cagey counter-puncher who misses very infrequently and knows how to construct points, but he hasn’t played anyone with the ability to overpower him, which Nadal has. This will be a big ask physically and we’ll discover if he did the work in the off-season he said he did.

“It looks as if he is much stronger, he’s playing beautifully, he’s thumping guys. It’s good for him that this is happening in ’07 because he would have been manhandled by Nadal if it had been a match-up a year ago. I don’t think that will happen now. But Nadal is suited by the court, he’s fast, he’s intimidating. Brad Gilbert [Murray’s coach] is a positive influence and one of his strengths is his ability to break down opponents and offer a set plan for his man to work to. I’m keen to see what that plan is.

“The other guys feel that Murray’s not going to miss and that unless they do something extra, he’s going to hurt them. He is so good on defence, getting the ball into awkward spots, and he has a really strong court sense. That’s something no one can teach.”

That the fourth-round match will be played late in the evening local time offers Murray a subtle advantage, because Nadal would have felt happier with the midday sun beating down as if he were at home in Majorca.

What will not fail Murray is his mental toughness. As one of his compatriots said this week, “there is not a match in this championship he will not be sick if he doesn’t win”. There you have a snapshot of the 19-year-old, who really has nothing to lose today except a little of his dignity. Murray is the last Scot in the championship from the four who began it at various levels: main draw, qualifying, doubles and juniors. Graeme Dyce, the red-haired 17-year-old — coached in his formative years by Judy Murray, Andy’s mother — lost in the first round of the junior event in three sets to Lazaré Kukhalashvili, from Georgia.

Kukhalashvili, 15, travelled here as a member of an LTA group and has shared digs with Dyce and Dan Cox for three weeks. Recently denied a second working visa to the United States, where he had been practising at the Nick Bollettieri Academy, he came to West London before Christmas to train at Queen’s Club, under the auspices of the LTA.

Negotiations are continuing between the association and Kukhalashvili’s management about him qualifying for residency and, possibly, playing for Great Britain one day. Both sides are said to be serious. From first impressions yesterday — the boy is fast, his ground strokes pack a punch and he has great spirit — he is worth checking out.

Alex Bogdanovic, the British No 3, has decided to part company with Mike Raphael, his coach, after a defeat in the first round of qualifying here. It would appear that the LTA has a ready-made replacement in Peter Lundgren, who has a contract to work 35 weeks a year in British tennis.