French Open 2017: Andy Murray hoping to rediscover top form at Roland Garros
Murray will be second on Court Suzanne Lenglen against Klizan; Edmund third on Court 6
Thursday 1 June 2017 14:50, UK
Andy Murray will be aiming for more improvements in his game when he takes on Slovakia's Martin Klizan at the French Open on Thursday.
The world No 1 arrived in Paris with his confidence shaky after just four wins during the clay-court season but found plenty of encouragement in a four-set win over Andrey Kuznetsov in his opening-round win.
Andy Murray beats Andrey Kuznetsov to make French Open second round
The longer format has been held up as a key reason behind the dominance of the big four of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and, to a lesser extent, Murray at the slams.
And the 30-year-old will look to benefit from the longer format by making further progress at Roland Garros when he takes on the dangerous big-hitter Klizan - the world No 50 - in the next round.
They have only met once before, in the first round in Beijing last October, with Klizan the 12th victim in Murray's 24-match winning streak to end the season.
Klizan has claimed some big wins in his career but arrived in Paris nursing a calf injury and was involved in a fiery five-setter against Frenchman Laurent Lokoli in round one.
Lokoli accused Klizan of exaggerating his physical problems and refused to shake hands at the end, sending the Slovakian away with a shooing gesture.
Klizan did not look to be in any condition to challenge Murray, but the Scot will not take anything for granted.
"He has a lot of talent," said Murray. "He can hit a big ball. He is quite unpredictable on the court. He plays a lot of drop shots and quite unorthodox sort of shot selection, so it can be difficult to prepare for that.
"Obviously I saw a few videos of his match. It was pretty entertaining. Hopefully, I can go out there and play some good tennis and make it tough for him."
Also in action, Kyle Edmund has been happy to see the progress he has made after a comprehensive win over Gastao Elias in his first-round match.
The British No 2 recorded a fine 6-3 6-2 7-5 victory, which took less than two hours, to book his place in the second round for the third straight year.
Edmund will next meet Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's conqueror Renzo Olivo from Argentina - the world No 91 - with a potential third-round date against Australian talent Nick Kyrgios lying ahead.
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