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French Open: Murray Struggles again, young Germans advance

May 25, 2016

For the second straight round, Britain’s Andy Murray needed five grueling sets to beat his opponent. Meanwhile, Alexander Zverev and Annika Beck advance as Dustin Brown’s grand slam dreams ends.

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Andy Murray Roland Garros French Open Tennis
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Y. Valat

If Andy Murray is planning on winning his first ever French Open, he is surely doing it the hard way. After needing five sets to defeat Radek Stepanek in the first round on Tuesday, the Scotsman labored once again before finally defeating French wild card entry Mathias Bourgue 6-2, 2-6. 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Though his coach showed him footage featuring legendary boxer Mohammed Ali, Bourgue could not land the knockout blow after taking the lead after three sets. Murray rallied from a one-set deficit for the second straight round, the first time the world number two has won two back-to-back five-set matches.

“You can't play too many matches like this if you want to go far in this tournament,” said Murray, who has already tallied seven hours and 15 minutes at Roland Garros through two rounds. “I lost my way on the court today, you know, for a while.”

“I was struggling to win points at one stage,” he continued. “I couldn't see where the shots were going.

World number three Stan Wawrinka had an easier time in his match, defeating Taro Daniel 7-6 (7), 6-3, 6-4. Wawrinka is set to take on Jeremy Chardy of France while Murray will have to face 37-year-old Ivo Karlovic, who became the oldest man to reach the third round of a grand slam tournament in 25 years.

Brown bounced out while young Germans advance

Dustin Brown, who advanced to his first second round match at the French Open after defeating Dudi Sela on Monday, fell in straight sets to American Jack Sock 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-2 to confirm his elimination from the French Open.

Alexander Zverev and Annika Beck had better fortune in their matches. The 19-year-old Zverev reached the second round of a Grand Slam tournament for the second time in his young career, defeating France's Pierre-Hugues Herbert 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (6), 7-5. Beck meanwhile survived her first round match against Kateryna Bondarenko, defeating the Ukrainian 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the third round at Roland Garros for the second straight year.

Zverev will take on Stephane Robert in the second round, while the 22-year-old Beck will face Irina-Camelia Begu in the third round.

dv/ (Reuters, AP)