Andy Murray admits that returning the John Isner serve under pouring rain was not the easiest of tasks but the Scot avoided any slips, both literally and figuratively, as he skipped past the American No. 15 seed to reach the Roland Garros quarter-finals for a British record sixth time on Sunday.
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Three-times semi-finalist Murray will play Richard Gasquet, the sole surviving French singles player, who had the crowd in raptures on Court Philippe Chatrier with a scintillating 6-4 6-2 4-6 6-2 win over Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori.
Rain forced the pair off Suzanne Lenglen court for an hour with Murray 2-1 ahead in the second set before Isner was broken for the first time in the 10th game.
Murray did not put a foot wrong in opening up a 5-2 lead but then lost four points in a row, leaving Isner with a set point on his own serve.
At 6-5, Isner cracked a serve of 132 miles per hour, and Murray – the game’s second-best returner after Novak Djokovic – handled it.
Ramos-Vinolas, who’s never passed the second round in his 18 previous grand slam appearances, broke the Canadian five times and saved 6 out of 7 break points throughout the match.
With a new retractable roof scheduled to be available at this year’s U.S. Open, the French Open is the only Grand Slam tournament without a structure for play to continue under rain.
Murray said he had wanted the match halted earlier as the rain made conditions risky.
It proved to be a bad day for the big names in doubles as Venus and Serena Williams, who were the last women’s team to hold all four majors in 2010, also perished in the third round, beaten 6-3 6-3 by the Dutch-Swedish pairing of Kiki Bertens and Johanna Larsson.
But after switching his black shirt for a white one when 2-1 down in sets against Mathias Bourgue on Wednesday and winning eight sets on the bounce since then – straight sets victories against Ivo Karlovic and John Isner followed the turnaround against Bourgue – there is no way he will consider wearing anything else for his quarter-final on Tuesday. He was extended the maximum five sets in each of his first two matches.
Tie break success “It was very important to win the tie-break, could have gone either way”, Murray said courtside.
‘Sergi talks a lot – he actually got (me) another code violation today. If he indeed advances to the semifinal, he would face the victor of No. 3 seed Stan Wawrinka vs. upstart Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
Gasquet’s talent has never been in doubt, from the moment he appeared on the front cover of a French tennis magazine at the age of nine. But I do think I did turn a corner on my season this week, considering how I was down and out in my first-round match.
Murray, who ended Britain’s long wait at Wimbledon in 2013, said: “I know obviously what that is like and the further you go in the tournament the more questions you get asked about it. You are trying to do your best to win and that doesn’t help”.
“I played a great match”.
Gasquet outplayed fifth seed Nishikori 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals for the first time. Mirza tossed the ball in anger but the duo failed to win the argument, or the match, leaving Krejcikova and Siniakova to celebrate a memorable victory.
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He added: “He knows I am always going to be fighting against him till the very end and even when he is in a winning position I can come back”. “When I was playing in the black with a black hat I didn’t feel great”.
