After coming from two sets down to defeat Radek Stepanek over two days in round one, Murray was back on court against little-known French wild card Mathias Bourgue.
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Then, against Bourgue a 22-year-old buoyed by a partisan crowd that repeatedly regaled their man with standing ovations and jeered line calls that didn’t go his way Murray dropped eight straight games, including that 16-point drought, and fell behind by two sets to one.
Murray’s meeting with big-serving veteran Karlovic is the second match on Court Suzanne Lenglen on Friday at approximately 11:00 BST.
Also in the bottom half of the draw, and a potential semi-final opponent for Murray, No8 seed Milos Raonic confirmed his place in the fourth round with a 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-3 win over Lucky Loser Andrej Martin.
The main concern for Murray is the emotional and physical toll the two matches will have taken on him, with five more to come if he is to win the title for the first time.
Daniel had stalled in the first round a year ago, when Wawrinka rode his sublime backhand to the final and won in his now infamous shorts against Novak Djokovic. “I lost my way on the court today for quite a while”, admitted second seed Murray, who won only 12 points during a forgettable second set.
“So to turn it around and find a way to win after a period where I was struggling to win points at one stage, I was losing a lot of games at love”.
Sania Mirza, Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna got their French Open campaigns off to a winning start as they won their respective doubles matches to enter the second round.
That gave him a 5-0 lead and two games later he had the first set in the bag at 6-1.
“I need to go and rest, it’s been a tough few days”.
“Of course it’s preferable to win a match in three sets, but when I enter the court, it’s not the one thing I’m obsessed about, winning three sets to save energy”, Wawrinka said. Karlovic, all 6ft 11ins of him, serves like a cannon, so break point opportunities will be few and far between – when Murray gets a chance, he needs to be alert and ready to jump on it.
“The return has normally been the strongest part of my game, but when he serves well, there’s not much you can do”. She was in bed by the time I got back.
“In Rome and Monte Carlo
and in Miami, I’ve really enjoyed having family around”, Murray said after his narrow escape against Bourgue. Comfortable on his own serve Murray pulled away again and he was soon two sets up.
“He’s the best newcomer, so it will be an incredible match for me”, said the Frenchman, who defeated fellow former Roland Garros boys champion Bjorn Fratangelo of the United States on Wednesday to reach the last 32. Karlovic, in characteristic fashion, saved the first with an ace but on the second he hit his return beyond the baseline.
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Murray was pushed to his very limit in a draining first week but looked to make swift work of the big-hitting Karlovic, breaking the Croat in the first game and taking the first set inside 25 minutes.
