Andy Murray avoided suffering his earliest grand slam defeat for eight years by clawing his way into the French Open third round with a five-set win over swashbuckling French journeyman Mathias Bourgue on Wednesday.
The British second seed, who survived a five-set thriller in the first round, eventually triumphed 6-2 2-6 4-6 6-2 6-3.
Murray appeared to be on course for an easy victory when he was a set and 2-0 up against the 164th-ranked wildcard who had never played a Tour-level match before this week.
But the Scot went into a mid-match meltdown as Bourgue won eight games in a row, including 16 successive points, by torturing his more celebrated rival with a mix of devilish dropshots, flying forehands and venomous volleys.
The 22-year-old Frenchman kept up his antics to take the third set before Murray's survival skills finally kicked in.
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After saving three break points in the opening game of the fourth set, which dragged on for 10 minutes, Murray found a way to crack Bourgue's serve for a 3-1 lead and then clung on to secure the victory.
Murray's life is unlikely to get much easier in the next round as he will face 37-year-old big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic, the oldest man to reach the third round of a grand slam for 25 years, for a place in the last 16.
