By Nick Powell
Andy Murray had to fightback from two sets to one down against French wildcard Mathias Bourgue as his bizarre form continued but he managed to make it through to the next round to be the final British born player standing after Heather Watson and Kyle Edmund were outclassed to end their tournaments.
He broke again and looked as if he would ease home before another scare. Bourgue earned one of the first breaks back, but Murray held on to win 6-2, 2-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in over three and a half hours. He'll face Croation Ivo Karlovic after he beat Australian Jordan Thompson 12-10 in the final set to become the oldest man to make the third round since Jimmy Connors in 1991.
Andy Murray had to fightback from two sets to one down against French wildcard Mathias Bourgue as his bizarre form continued but he managed to make it through to the next round to be the final British born player standing after Heather Watson and Kyle Edmund were outclassed to end their tournaments.
Murray seemed to be coasting to victory as he raced to a lead of a set and a break without really breaking a sweat.
But he suddenly found himself level on sets and a break down as he lost 8 straight games, and at one point 16 straight points, to give his young French opponent control and once again put himself under huge pressure.
The wildcard held with ease and put huge pressure on the Murray serve as he chased another break, seeing it out 6-4. The fourth set saw Murray take his first chance to break and gave him the initiative, after having lost 8 of the previous 9 Bourgue service games to love.
With Bourgue perhaps struggling with his fitness, Murray started to make his opponent work harder and clinched the set with a break to love to level the match. Murray sensed his opportunity and took advantage of some rare errors to break the Frenchman in the fourth game of the decider.
He broke again and looked as if he would ease home before another scare. Bourgue earned one of the first breaks back, but Murray held on to win 6-2, 2-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in over three and a half hours. He'll face Croation Ivo Karlovic after he beat Australian Jordan Thompson 12-10 in the final set to become the oldest man to make the third round since Jimmy Connors in 1991.
Meanwhile Kyle Edmund suffered a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 defeat to 15th seed John Isner and Heather Watson lost 6-1 6-3 to 13th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova as Britain's interest in the women's side of the French Open women's singles ended in the second round.
There were no big shocks for the top ten seeds in both draws, with Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori earning straight sets wins against Taro Daniel and Andrey Kuznetsov respectively. In the women's draw Simona Halep and Petra Kvitova eased through in straight sets while fourth seed Gabriel Muguruza had no trouble with her French wildcard. She, like Murray, went 6-2, 2-0 up but eased home.
Comments
Post a Comment