\n
Andy Murray avoided the fate of fellow world number one Angelique Kerber by coming through his first-round match at the French Open in four sets.<\/p>\n
The Briton, 30, beat Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov 6-4 4-6 6-2 6-0.<\/p>\n
Defeat for Murray would have seen\u00a0both top seeds exit a Grand Slam<\/u>\u00a0in round one for the first time in the open era.<\/p>\n
Fellow Briton Johanna Konta earlier lost to world number 109 Hsieh Su-Wei, while Kyle Edmund impressed in beating Portugal’s Gastao Elias 6-3 6-2 7-5.<\/p>\n
Murray goes on to face Slovakia’s Martin Klizan, the world number 50, while Edmund will play either 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France or Argentina’s Renzo Olivo.<\/p>\n
Olivo was just a game away from knocking the Frenchman out of his home tournament when the match was stopped for bad light with the world number 91 leading 7-5 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 5-4.<\/p>\n
“It was a decent start, considering how I played in the build-up,” said Murray.<\/p>\n
Fellow Briton Aljaz Bedene reached the second round on Monday and plays against Czech Jiri Vesely on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Slow start, strong finish from Murray<\/p>\n
Murray has struggled for form and fitness in 2016 and arrived in Paris apparently more vulnerable than ever, but the first hurdle was cleared despite a patchy start.<\/p>\n
Kuznetsov, the world number 73, broke the Murray serve four times – twice in taking the second set – which prompted some self-mocking sarcastic applause from the Briton.<\/p>\n
The contest was very much on at one set all, but a moment of inspiration turned things in Murray’s favour early in the third.<\/p>\n
Kuznetsov had him chasing down a lob, seemingly hopelessly, only for the Scot to send up a towering response over his shoulder that dropped just inside the baseline.<\/p>\n
The Russian could only fire his smash into the net, drawing a huge roar from the previously unengaged crowd, and Murray raced through eight straight points to take a grip on the match.<\/p>\n
Glimmers of the player who dominated the second half of 2016 began to emerge – a familiar backhand pass rocketed down the line, a drop shot that left Kuznetsov stranded.<\/p>\n
With coach Ivan Lendl typically poker-faced, it fell to the rest of Team Murray to gee up their man with shouts of “Come on Andy, let’s go!”<\/p>\n
Murray did just that in the fourth set, taking a decisive lead as he stretched his domination to eight straight games.<\/p>\n
With the sun finally shining on a cooler day in Paris, Murray had the crowd on their feet with one magnificent drop shot on his way to sealing victory after two hours and 32 minutes.<\/p>\n
It was good I was able to regain my concentration and finish the match off in straight sets<\/i><\/p>\n
Kyle Edmund<\/i><\/p>\n
“It definitely got better as it went on,” said Murray.<\/p>\n
“I started to move a bit better towards the end, and was hitting the ball better when I was defending.<\/p>\n
“That’s something the last few weeks I haven’t done so well and didn’t start off the match doing particularly well.<\/p>\n
“But once I was getting a little bit more on my ball when I was defending, there wasn’t too many openings for him in the points.”<\/p>\n
Analysis – Murray shows his steel<\/p>\n
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller<\/i><\/p>\n
There were many reassuring signs for Murray as the match progressed: he started to move better and hit some exhibition style shots once he had conjured that remarkable over the shoulder recovery lob.<\/p>\n
The closing two sets will have done much for his confidence, especially as he had played quite passively and seemed to be lacking firepower in the opening two sets.<\/p>\n
Murray was broken four times in five games at one stage, but showed plenty of steel throughout the match as he converted nine out of 10 break points.<\/p>\n
Edmund impresses en route to round two<\/p>\n
Ranked 49 in the world, Edmund was playing an opponent 59 places below him<\/p>\n
Edmund, 22, started as the clear favourite against Portugal’s Elias but impressed in reaching the second round at Roland Garros for the third successive year.<\/p>\n
The Yorkshireman hit a number of powerful forehands on his way to comfortably taking the first two sets and fought back from a break down to win the third.<\/p>\n
“I controlled a lot of the match,” the British number two said. “In the third set it showed why in a best-of-five-set match you have to keep your concentration. I felt like I was cruising and still went down a break.<\/p>\n
“It was good I was able to regain my concentration and finish the match off in straight sets.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Andy Murray avoided the fate of fellow world number one Angelique Kerber by coming through his first-round match at the French Open in four sets. The Briton, 30, beat Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov 6-4 4-6 6-2 6-0. Defeat for Murray would have seen\u00a0both top seeds exit a Grand Slam\u00a0in round one for the first time in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-394056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n
Murray beats Kuznetsov to reach second round - MyJoyOnline.com - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/03\/murray-beats-kuznetsov-to-reach-second-round-myjoyonline-com\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Murray beats Kuznetsov to reach second round - MyJoyOnline.com - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Andy Murray avoided the fate of fellow world number one Angelique Kerber by coming through his first-round match at the French Open in four sets. The Briton, 30, beat Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov 6-4 4-6 6-2 6-0. Defeat for Murray would have seen\u00a0both top seeds exit a Grand Slam\u00a0in round one for the first time in […]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/03\\\/murray-beats-kuznetsov-to-reach-second-round-myjoyonline-com\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/03\\\/murray-beats-kuznetsov-to-reach-second-round-myjoyonline-com\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Murray beats Kuznetsov to reach second round – MyJoyOnline.com\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-03T22:55:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/03\\\/murray-beats-kuznetsov-to-reach-second-round-myjoyonline-com\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":777,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/03\\\/murray-beats-kuznetsov-to-reach-second-round-myjoyonline-com\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/03\\\/murray-beats-kuznetsov-to-reach-second-round-myjoyonline-com\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/03\\\/murray-beats-kuznetsov-to-reach-second-round-myjoyonline-com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Murray beats Kuznetsov to reach second round - MyJoyOnline.com - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-03T22:55:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/03\\\/murray-beats-kuznetsov-to-reach-second-round-myjoyonline-com\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Murray beats Kuznetsov to reach second round - MyJoyOnline.com - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/03\/murray-beats-kuznetsov-to-reach-second-round-myjoyonline-com\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Murray beats Kuznetsov to reach second round - MyJoyOnline.com - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Andy Murray avoided the fate of fellow world number one Angelique Kerber by coming through his first-round match at the French Open in four sets. The Briton, 30, beat Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov 6-4 4-6 6-2 6-0. Defeat for Murray would have seen\u00a0both top seeds exit a Grand Slam\u00a0in round one for the first time in […]","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/03\/murray-beats-kuznetsov-to-reach-second-round-myjoyonline-com\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/03\/murray-beats-kuznetsov-to-reach-second-round-myjoyonline-com\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Murray beats Kuznetsov to reach second round – MyJoyOnline.com","datePublished":"2017-06-03T22:55:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/03\/murray-beats-kuznetsov-to-reach-second-round-myjoyonline-com\/"},"wordCount":777,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Business"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/03\/murray-beats-kuznetsov-to-reach-second-round-myjoyonline-com\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/03\/murray-beats-kuznetsov-to-reach-second-round-myjoyonline-com\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/03\/murray-beats-kuznetsov-to-reach-second-round-myjoyonline-com\/","name":"Murray beats Kuznetsov to reach second round - MyJoyOnline.com - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-06-03T22:55:28+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/03\/murray-beats-kuznetsov-to-reach-second-round-myjoyonline-com\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394056\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}