Andy Murray's Australian Open preparations suffered a setback as he lost in straight sets to Marat Safin at the Kooyong Classic in Melbourne this morning.

The Scot, winner of the Qatar Open last week, went down 6-1, 6-4 in his final event before playing in the first grand slam of the year.

A tired and nauseous Murray said he was close to vomiting during the defeat. "I had a run at the track this morning and our match was moved up," said the world No 9. "I felt like a couple of chicken sandwiches were ready to come up. I'm glad there were not that many long rallies."

Murray, now surrounded by a revolving team of coaches after parting company with Brad Gilbert, is now focused on next week's major.

"I didn't feel too great on the court, but after a couple of days the jet-lag will be better. I want to arrive at the Australian Open in 100 per cent condition," he said.

Marcos Baghdatis, a late call-up after top-ranked Roger Federer pulled out with a stomach complaint, shrugged off his jet-lag to register a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 victory over Nikolay Davydenko.

"I was a bit tired from the travel, I need to play better for the [Australian] Open," Baghdatis said. "I felt a bit heavy on court, I was not fluid. I had a bit of a pain in the knee but it was because of the jet-lag."

Andy Roddick, winner of the last two editions, easily saw off Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-0. "This is an important event, I'm getting matches," said the American, who trained for the hot weather in Hawaii. "And traditionally, players who have done well here have also done well at the Aussie Open. There's nothing wrong with playing matches against top-20 guys."

David Nalbandian, the form player of the end of last season, joined Federer on the sidelines after suffering a back spasm in training and now faces a battle to be fit for the Australian Open, which starts on Monday.

"The doctor told me it was a distension of the muscle," said Nalbandian, who was to have faced Fernando Gonzalez in his Kooyong start. He was replaced by Australian Open junior champion Brydan Klein. "I need to rest, take treatment and we'll see how it goes."