Andy Murray admits there are areas of his game that need to improve but he has taken a lot of encouragement after defeating Andrey Kuznetsov in the first round of the 2017 French Open.

Murray headed into the second Grand Slam of the season in poor form, having lost to Croatian Borna Coric in the last-16 at the Madrid Open before suffering an early exit at the hands of Italian Fabio Fognini in the Italian Open.

The world number one has picked up one title in 2017 – that being the Dubai Tennis Championships back in March – but his level will need to significantly increase if he is triumph at Roland Garros for the first time.

A runner-up last year, the 30-year-old certainly has the game for the clay surface and he showed glimpses of his best during his first round victory over Kuznetsov, who is number 73 in the ATP rankings.

The two-time Wimbledon champion recorded a 6-4 4-6 6-2 6-0 win over his Russian opponent but admitted there are certain aspects of his game that need to improve as the tournament goes on.

”It was a decent start, considering obviously how I played in the build-up,” Murray said. “I still think I can do some things a bit better than I did today, obviously.

I will try to keep that going.” Murray will go up against Martin Klizan, the world number 50, in the second round after the Slovakian defeated Frenchman Laurent Lokoli 7-6 6-3 4-6 0-6 6-4.

The Scot is the firm 1.07 favourite to progress on Thursday whilst his opponent, who has only reached the third round in France on one previous occasion, is the 7.00 outsider.