Second seed Andy Murray reached the French Open quarter-finals for the sixth time on Sunday with a 7-6 (11/9), 6-4, 6-3 win over John Isner of the United States.
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After emerging from two grueling five-set matches against Radek Stepanek and French wildcard Mathias Bourgue respectively, Murray overcame the giant Croat Ivo Karlovic in straight sets on Friday.
On set point, Isner sent a thunderbolt serve wide to Murray’s backhand, which the Scot somehow prodded back, but only mid-court.
Isner, meanwhile, was undone by Murray’s superior returning which contributed to his 57 unforced errors. With Amelie, it was not a huge amount of time we spent together, I think in total it was 10 days with her or two weeks maximum, so most of the time I have been doing it on my own, which I’ve really enjoyed.
But it’s also a matchup between the 16th best on serve in Murray against the 71st-ranked returner in Isner-that advantage goes to Murray.
Isner took a 0-5 career record against Murray on to a murky Court Suzanne Lenglen but he stuck manfully to his task in the first set, denying the Briton the slightest whiff of a break.
But at 4-5, after 21 consecutive holds, Isner’s resistance came to an end.
Murray broke again at 2-1 in the third as Isner wilted, the American chipping a exhausted drop shot into the net.
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World number one Novak Djokovic has never triumphed in Paris. And the 29-year-old served out in his next service game to advance.
