Andy Murray hasn’t had the easiest of rides into Round 3 of this year’s French Open. Just 11 days ago he was winning the Rome Masters event without dropping a set, with many (including fellow LWOS writer Jake Davies) expecting the British #1 to be one of the real favorites for the second of the major of the year. But now it’s perhaps a bit of a different story.
A Look at Andy Murray’s Round 3 Encounter
After struggling with wildcard Radek Stepanek in the first round, finding himself two sets to love down playing poorly, Murray upped his game just in time to eventually edge out the Czech 7-5 in the fifth. Just when the draw on paper looked to be beneficial he also found himself two sets to one down against French wildcard Mathias Bourgue before prevailing. In the next round he’ll play huge server Ivo Karlovic.
The world #2 goes into his Round 3 clash with a 6-0 head to head against the Croatian, with their first meeting coming all the way back in 2007. While the World #28 has taken 4 sets against the Brit in these past meetings, he’s never had the finishing touch to prevail when it’s really mattered.
If Murray is going to come out on top in the pair’s first meeting on clay he’ll firstly have to cut down on the errors. In his first two rounds he has hit 80 unforced errors and was broken nine times. While Karlovic doesn’t possess the ground game of Stepanek or Bourgue, this is exactly why the errors need to be cut down. Against his previous two opponents, the chance of breaking was always there given how great of a returner as Murray is. Chances to break the 37-year-old’s serve, however, are going to be at a premium. If the Brit is going to donate points and chances to one of the worst returners statistically, issues may arise and he could well find himself in yet another battle.
Also benefiting in the World #2’s aid is that Karlovic prevailed 12-10 in the fifth and final set against Jordan Thompson in his last match, hitting 41 aces. While there’s likely not to be many rallies given the nature of the Croat’s game, the longer Murray can keep him out on court for the most likely the big man will tire, with importantly his serve dropping in effectiveness, as we have seen before.
Overall it’s hard to see anything but an Andy Murray win; the surface suits him a lot more and the head to head is very one-sided so far too. If the two-time Grand Slam champion does prevail it only puts him in good stead given he’s likely to play another huge server in the 15th seed John Isner in the Round of 16.
Winning, however, isn’t enough, when it comes to taking the trophy home at a major. The need to win seven best-of-5 set matches over the course of 2 weeks is both physically and mentally draining. While many of Andy Murray’s main rivals have breezed through their opening rounds like nine-time champion Rafael Nadal and World #1 Novak Djokovic, there’s always the chance that should the 2013 Wimbledon champion make it far at Roland Garros, continuing to take the hard route, that it may catch up to him in the biggest matches of all.
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