Elsewhere, Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal with a wrist injury dominated the headlines, while there were comfortable wins for reigning champion Stanislas Wawrinka, who beat France’s Jeremy Chardy 6-4 6-3 7-5 and local favourite Richard Gasquet, whose clay-court experience proved too much for headline-making Aussie Nick Kyrgios, who went down 6-2 7-6 (9/7) 6-2.
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Next up is the tallest man in the business, 6ft 11in Ivo Karlovic.
Smith said: “It’s tough for Andy because ideally he’d obviously want to get through the first two rounds a lot quicker but it’s not been that way”. He dictated the points and made me run.
After spending more than seven and a half hours getting past a crocked qualifier and a wild-card ingenu, Murray now plays the oldest man since Jimmy Connors in 1991 to reach the third round of a major. He passed Goran Ivanisevic’s all-time aces record a year ago and still has an awesome serve. “And I’m not going to spend five hours at the courts so I will get to spend a bit more time in the house”.
Karlovic was unable to wind up his vicious serve and two double faults gifted Murray another break point, which he won with a fizzing forehand that the veteran was unable to return.
Karlovic was clearly unsettled, whether by the conditions, tiredness or simply Murray’s returning.
Karlovic has only lost four sets to love in his career and he avoided that fate here by finally holding serve at the third attempt. By finding the target with so many first serves he did not allow Karlovic many chances to attack.
So far, Karlovic has thumped away 72 aces in his first two matches and won 87 per cent of his first service points.
“It is not always up to you when you are playing a server as big as him”. When Karlovic got into the net he would often find passing shots flying past him down either flank. The last time was when Ivo Karlovic ousted Lleyton Hewitt in the first round at Wimbledon in 2003.
The world No 164, who had never previously faced a top 50 opponent, played the match of his life, winning eight games in a row as he took the second and third sets with some thrilling tennis, though he also capitalised on some listless play by Murray. There was only a light breeze and the temperature was a very pleasant 24C. He doubled faulted twice in the next game, Murray broke again for 4-0, and the Briton held his own serve with an ace. “Maybe I managed to like worry her for a second there”.
The third-seed fended off two set points against the World No. 93 in an opening tie-break, and the Swiss was also forced to rally from a break down in the third set before wrapping up a straight-sets victory. Even the hint of a Karlovic comeback was quickly squashed after Murray had gone 0-30 down when serving at 4-3.
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It’s hard to fathom just how Murray lost his way so badly against Bourgue to drop sets two and three after looking in control but he will take solace from the way he came back to continue his title quest. “For sure it was some up and down, could have been better, but winning three sets, it’s always good, and in general I think it’s been a good day”, said Wawrinka.
