Murray beats Troicki to reach French Open quarter-final
Andy Murray battled into the French Open quarter-finals by beating Vikto Troicki 4-6 4-6 6-3 6-2 7-5 after the pair returned to court for a one-set shootout.
Play was halted due to bad light on Monday evening after Murray had fought back superbly to level the match at two sets all. The world number four recovered from 2-5 down in the decider to win in the fifth.
The British number one, through to the quarter finals at Roland Garros for the second time, will now face unseeded Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela on Wednesday - the defending champion Rafael Nadal awaits the victor.
Resuming at two sets all, there was no sign of the ankle injury that had appearead to contribute to Murray's slow start on Court Suzanne Lenglen the previous day.
Murray had opportunities to take control of the final set, with break points in Troicki's opening two service games, but the Serbian absorbed the pressure in the early stages and saw off the danger.
Troicki was angered at the start of the sixth game when a ball boy inexplicably ran on to the court right in front of the Serb as he was winning the point with a smash.
The umpire ordered them to replay the point which Murray won, leading to some choice words from Troicki and boos from a crown sympathetic to the blushing boy.
But it was the Briton who seemed most disrupted. Murray mistimed a forehand that sailed long and Troicki converted his first break point of the day to move 5-2 clear.
Despite holding for 5-3, Murray looked certain for the exit at 0-30 down on Troicki's serve, but fought back to 40-30 up and secured the break back when the Serb hit the net with an attempted drop shot.
From there, Murray's greater experience told. Troicki had lost all four previous five-set matches he had played against top-10 players and that record loomed large now, with Murray finding a great length from the baseline and forcing the errors to go 0-40 up in game 11, and the Serbian netted a backhand on the third break point.
Hopes of a swift victory were long gone as the time for the set passed one hour, and Murray gave his supporters one final scare by letting a 40-0 lead slip when serving for the match, but a magnificent cross-court backhand pass on his fourth match point sealed victory.
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