Andy Murray earned a much-needed straight sets win against Ivo Karlovic to move into the fourth round at Roland Garros.

After a marathon win against Radek Stepanek in the first round and another in the second against Mathias Bourgue, this was a bit of respite for the second seed, who would have been wary about putting his body through too much early on in the tournament.

Karlovic himself had come through a remarkable match in the second round as he beat Jordan Thompson in an epic four-hour-34-minute match. With Karlovic being the second 37-year-old Murray has faced at Roland Garros, the Scot would have been wondering whether he was in for another tough haul.

Murray races out of the blocks

The match started with Murray on the front foot, breaking twice on Karlovic’s first two service games to take a 5-0 lead before taking the set eventually 6-1. It was a tonic that would’ve have been welcome for Murray after the previous two rounds.

The second set started the same as the first with Murray breaking on Karlovic’s first service game yet again, and with both players going on to hold their serves for the rest of the set, Murray was left to serve out for a two-set lead which he managed with ease.

Murray seals the deal with a tie-break

Karlovic became the oldest player to reach the French Open R3 since Jimmy Connors in 1991| Photo: AS

The final set was a tight affair as both players served clinically with only two break points in the first ten games, both of which were saved by Karlovic.

With neither player making a breakthrough, the set went to a tie-break. Murray pulled ahead, quickly taking a 3-0 lead.

From that point there was no looking back for the Scot as he took the match on his second match point to advance. Murray ended the match with an incredible 34-4 winner to unforced error ratio.

Murray moves onto the fourth round where he will face the winner of John Isner versus Teimuraz Gabashvili.

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