Andy Murray earned a place in the third round of the French Open at Roland Garros, but not without a struggle against Portuguese Joao Sousa.

The Scot had never dropped a set to his opponent in five hard court meetings but he was forced to battle for a 6-2 4-6 6-4 6-1 to set up a match with Australia’s Nick Kyrgios.

Murray has been adapting well to the clay this season, defeating home favourite Rafael Nadal to win the Madrid Open earlier this month.

His victory over Sousa brings his overall match record on the surface to 12 wins and 0 defeats in 2015 so far.

The Scot, twice a beaten semi-finalist in Paris, was relieved to have answered some tough questions against Sousa.
“For a lot of the match I played very well,” Murray said.

“I didn’t really help myself in the second set. I served badly, which made it difficult.

“Then at the end of that second set he was able to dictate a lot of the points, and he played very well at the beginning of the third set and had some chances there as well.”

Despite picking up a couple of time violations on his own serve, Murray took comfort from the manner in which he was able to adjust and swing things in his favour during the heat of battle.

“I was happy with the way I was able to turn it around and make some adjustments out there on the court, which turned the match in my favour,” he added.

Murray is 9.00 to win the French Open, with reigning champion Nadal 4.50 and world number one Novak Djokovic 1.74.