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Andy Murray has reached the third round at the French Open as the world number one held off an at times inspired Martin Klizan, to beat the Slovak 6-7 6-2 6-2 7-6. The Brit responded emphatically to dropping the opening set by taking the next two, but Klizan threatened to force a decider when he served for the fourth. However, Murray made a timely break and then dominated the eventual tie-break to seal the win.
Klizan made a great start to the match in utilising his sledgehammer of a forehand and even though he wasn’t able to serve out the first set at 5-4, the Slovak was much more solid in the tiebreak to gain the lead in the match. But, Murray improved and soon found his better form, quickly forging a two set to one lead over his at times inconsistent opponent.
The Slovak though refused to lie down in the next set and seized an early break en route to building a 5-3 lead, as he was producing the same sparkling tennis of the first set to keep Murray at bay. However, an erratic game from Klizan as he served for the fourth set gifted the world number one the break back and the Brit eventually forced another tiebreak. This time, Murray was too strong and capitalised on more wayward shot-making from his opponent to win the tiebreak and the match, to book his place in the next round.
In a blockbuster third round clash, Murray will take on Juan Martin Del Potro.
There was further British success as Kyle Edmund also won his second round match, by dispatching Jo Wilfried Tsonga’s conqueror Renzo Olivo 7-5 6-3 6-1 but Aljaz Bedene exited the tournament in a four set defeat to Jiri Vesely.
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka all swiftly progressed but Tomas Berdych suffered a shock straight sets loss to Karen Khachanov. Kei Nishikori and home favourite Gael Monfils were also victorious, while Nick Kyrgios fell to Kevin Anderson in four sets.
In the women’s draw, Garbine Muguruza, Elina Svitolina and Agnieszka Radwanska needed three set wins to go through, while Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki comfortably moved into round three. However, Dominika Cibulkova was knocked out of the competition by Ons Jabeur, with the Tunisian recording a 6-4 6-3 win.
