But he joked that he hoped Murray's wife Kim Sears would go into labour so the British great would withdraw from the match.

Groth, 28, hit 27 aces to beat Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in four sets on Tuesday, in his first win since the US Open in June.

With a world ranking of 67 he will be the clear underdog when he plays the British champion, but Groth said he would approach the contest with the attitude that he had nothing to lose.

He planned to serve hard and play aggressively, with the backing of a home crowd.

Artist Sears is due to give birth to the couple's first child in February, and Murray has said if she were to go into labour he would leave the tournament immediately.

"I might just be cheering for that one," Groth said.

Murray enjoyed an easy first round win against 18-year-old German Alexander Zverev, scoring 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in just more than two hours.

He said he would have liked to finish the match more quickly, but that Zverev was a good young player who was taller than most.

"It might take him a little bit longer to sort of develop into his body," he said.

"He's got a lot, lot of potential, for sure."

The world number two has four times reached the Australian Open final, but never won.

Murray said Groth was a competitive player who fought hard and had a good attitude.

"He will make it tough for me because he has a different game style to a lot of the players now," he said.

Groth beat Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, ranked 48, in four sets after winning the first set in a tie-break.

The Australian towards the end of last year had surgery on his right foot to treat an ongoing nerve problem and he said it felt good.

"It's pulled up well afterwards, so that's bonus," he said.

When asked about the allegations of match fixing which have rocked the men's game this week, Murray had had never been approached with an offer to throw a game.

But he was not surprised that top-50 players, or even grand slam winners may be involved.

Groth said he did not know anything about the match fixing scandal.

"I don't think there's any place for it in our sport, but that's about it," he said.