Murray is back in the world's top 10 after his Qatar Open success

The world number nine, 20, suffered a surprise loss to Marat Safin in his opening match of the round-robin event.

"I've never been more content before a slam," said the Scot ahead of next week's Australian Open. "I feel good, I've trained hard and prepared well."

Murray will now face Australian Brydan Klein in the play-off for fifth place.

Klein, the 2007 Australian Open junior champion, replaced David Nalbandian after the Argentine withdrew from the Melbourne tournament because of a back injury.

Murray, who won last week's Qatar Open, looked in trouble against Ljubicic after losing the first set 8-6 in the tie-break before going 3-0 down in the second.

But, in temperatures approaching 41C, he reeled off five straight games to level the match against his Croat opponent before dominating the final set.

"It was obviously hot but I didn't feel too bad actually. Your legs feel it, but I didn't feel too tired. I felt OK," said Murray.

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"I've been doing a lot of training since I got here so it took a little while to get my legs moving.

"He has such a good serve and hits a lot of balls in the middle of court which you have to anticipate, so maybe that's why it looked like I wasn't moving."

Andy Roddick, who beat Ljubicic in his opening match, is on course for a third straight victory in the Kooyong Classic after a 6-3 6-3 defeat of Safin.

The American will now face either Marcos Baghdatis or Fernando Gonzalez in the final.

Roddick was beaten in the 2005 final by Roger Federer but then won the 2006 edition against Tommy Haas before taking his revenge over Federer last year.

Federer pulled out of this year's event because of illness but is expected to defend his Australian Open title.