Murray, runner-up last year in Melbourne, got to take an early shower after Beck called it quits because of a sore shoulder in a match that was definitely not one for the purists.
Beck, who served a two-year doping suspension from late 2005-07, played horribly before trudging off early, committing 43 unforced errors, many of them absolute howlers.
He spent much of the match growling at himself angrily while fifth seed Murray, who lost to Roger Federer in last year's final, rarely needed to rise above the ordinary. Double-click on the newslinks: for more tennis stories