Aljaz Bedene joined the five-set club when he overcame Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 7-6, 6-3, 4-6, 5-7, 6-2 to reach the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time.
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Against Radek Stepanek and Mathias Bourgue, ranked 128 and 164 respectively, Murray has twice been taken to five sets and needed more than seven hours to battle his way into the third round.
But Murray served out the set and then broke again at the start of the second, Karlovic slamming his racket disconsolately to the ground after missing a volley.
Canadian Milos Raonic, on the other hand, has played the minimum number of sets so far after cruising into the third round with a 6-1, 7-6 (0), 6-1 win over Adrian Mannarino.
It was a different story because Bedene was two sets up before a fightback from Carreno Busta but the British number two prevailed 7-6 (7/4) 6-3 4-6 5-7 6-2.
Next up for Murray on Friday is 6ft 11in Ivo Karlovic, who is likely also to be feeling tired after finally overcoming Australia’s Jordan Thompson 12-10 in the fifth set in round two. “If you look at the first two matches, for sure I’m not playing my best tennis, but I know I have my best tennis in me”, the 31-year-old Wawrinka, playing in his 45th consecutive grand slam tournament, told reporters.
But in the third round he faces Andy Murray who is third on Tour this year behind Nadal and Djokovic in return games won (34% for 2016).
At 37, Karlovic was the oldest player to reach the third round in Paris since Jimmy Connors in 1991 and he topped the charts after two rounds winning 92 percent of his service games.
Andy Murray of Great Britain in action at French Open.
“I managed to win the match”.
The last champion at Roland Garros to win rounds one and two in five sets was Gaston Gaudio, in 2004.
“I need to go and rest”, said Murray, already on court for 10 sets and more than 7 hours.
Women’s seeded winners: No. 2 Agnieszka Radwanska, No. 4 Garbine Muguruza, No. 6 Simona Halep, No. 10 Petra Kvitova, No. 11 Lucie Safarova, No. 13 Svetlana Kuznetsova, No. 19 Sloane Stephens, No. 21 Sam Stosur, No. 24 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, No. 25 Irina-Camelia Begu, No. 30 Barbora Strycova.
Smith, who was also a childhood coach of Murray’s, says the 29-year-old could rediscover his form as suddenly as it left him.
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Czech Lucie Safarova, finalist previous year, beat Swiss Viktorija Golubic 6-2 6-2, and 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova showed she is still a force by beating Britain’s Heather Watson.
