If Andy Murray is going to win an Olympic medal, he wants it to be in the company of his brother, Jamie. Just as well after Murray last night flunked what should have been an easy first-round singles match against an unknown who did not believe he had a chance of beating the No6 seed.

Lu Yen-hsun found out he had drawn Murray only as he arrived at the airport to fly to Beijing. “When I was told, I was going to turn around and go home and unpack my suitcase,” the delighted man from Taiwan, ranked No77 in the world, said. He will be glad he did not carry out his threat after teasing and frustrating Murray into a defeat the Scot will want to forget.

Fortunately, there was a chance of redemption three hours after Murray stalked dejectedly from No1 Court at the Olympic Green Tennis Centre. He left for food and a massage and then got his head down to sleep for 30 minutes before preparing for his doubles match with Jamie against the much-fancied Canada pair of Daniel Nestor and Frederic Niemeyer.

Jamie had the sense to stay out of his little brother's way. “There was nothing I could do or say,” he said. “I know what he is like so I let him do his thing and deal with it. We had a match to play and he had to get himself right. I couldn't do it for him. But it was a tough situation for Andy and some of that translated itself to me.”

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It seemed that Andy's uncertainty and frustration was catching in the first set as he stomped about the court and swore to himself with each fluffed shot and mis-hit. Suddenly, Jamie, too, was making mistakes. The Canadians secured the first set when Andy lost his serve and slammed his racket into the ground in fury.

But that was the turning point. The Murrays broke the Canadians in the first game of the second set. Gradually, steadily, their fluency and understanding grew, with Andy playing the sort of spectacular groundstrokes that brought him the biggest win of his career ten days ago in the Masters Series event at Cincinnati.

It was the turn of the Canadians to be frustrated and confused and, as the clock turned towards midnight, the Murrays closed out the match in style, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. The tetchy Andy Murray, who had growled his way to a 7-6, 6-4 defeat by Lu, was replaced by the one who believes that there are medals to be won here that will make the Murray family trophy cabinet unique.

“I had my chances in the singles and didn't take them,” he said. “But to win a medal with my brother would be very special and something few families have done. I came here for a medal and I want to win it with my brother.”

Murray's shock defeat in the singles contrasted with Roger Federer, the No1 seed, who cruised through his first-round match against Dmitry Tursunov, of Russia, 6-4, 6-2. Rafael Nadal suffered an unexpected wobble, needing three sets to overcome Potito Starace, of Italy.