Murray had to do things the hard way after blowing a set point in the opening set, but dug deep to secure the 6-7 (7-4) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 win in Wednesday's match that ended up finishing after midnight.

Basilashvili unleashed a series of outrageous winners throughout the match, forcing Murray to defend for long periods.

But Murray's class shone through when it mattered most, with the world No.135 securing the win in three hours 13 minutes.

Murray was pleased to come away with the win against one of the tour's cleanest hitters.

"It was an unbelievably tough match," Murray said in his on-court interview.

"He's hitting the ball consistently bigger than anyone on tour.

"It's tough, because sometimes you feel like you've done the right thing, and then he hits a huge winner up the line on the run.

"I was having to do a lot of defending, a lot of running. My legs stood up well. I served really well in the last set. I would have liked to have got that first set, I had a number of chances there."

Murray cut a frustrated figure after letting the opening set slip through his fingers.

The 34-year-old was serving for the set at 5-3 before being broken, and he also failed to convert a set point on Basilashvili's serve the next game.

Murray then coughed up a 3-1 lead in the tiebreak.

The frustration continued to build after Murray wasted three set points in the second set.

But he came good in the breaker, and then ran away with the match in the third set.

Murray boasts a 6-0 head-to-head record against world No.45 Goffin, but they haven't met since 2018.

Earlier, Australian Jordan Thompson destroyed his racquet in frustration on the way to a straight sets loss to world No.25 Reilly Opelka in the second round of the Sydney Tennis Classic.

Thompson produced an impressive 6-4 6-2 win over Marcos Giron on Monday, but couldn't repeat the dose against the giant Opelka on Wednesday, losing 6-3 6-2.

The Australian world No.73 struggled to find his rhythm throughout the match, and the emotions got the better of him when he sent a backhand wide early in the second set to hand Opelka the break.

Thompson slammed his racquet into the court in frustration, before picking it up and whacking it down two more times to completely destroy it.

The outburst failed to spark him to life, with Thompson winning just two more games for the match.

Opelka will take on American world No.68 Brandon Nakashima in Thursday's quarter-final.

Australian Associated Press