PARIS. — Defending French Open tennis champion Stan Wawrinka reached the third round yesterday after labouring to a 7-6 (9-7), 6-3, 6-4 win over Japan’s Taro Daniel.

The third-seeded Swiss fended off two set points against world number 93 Daniel in an opening tie-break, and Wawrinka was also forced to rally from a break down in the third set before wrapping up a straight-sets victory.

World number two Andy Murray had to fight back to beat wildcard Mathias Bourgue in five sets and secure his place in the French Open third round.

The British number one lost eight consecutive games to drop the second and then the third sets to the inspired 22-year-old Grand Slam debutant.

But Murray (29) used all his experience to seal a 6-2, 2-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over the world number 164 from France.

Murray was also taken to five sets in the first round by veteran Czech Radek Stepanek.

The Scot’s inconsistent form has been perplexing considering he beat Novak Djokovic in the Italian Open final in his last match on clay.

He now goes on to face 27th seed Ivo Karlovic from Croatia in the third round on Friday.

Meanwhile, having narrowly avoiding becoming the first reigning Roland Garros champion to lose in the first round when he was taken to five sets by Lukas Rosol, Wawrinka was relieved to eventually come through unscathed against a player with just one Grand Slam win to his name.

Wawrinka will face 32nd-ranked Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, an opponent the Swiss has beaten in all four previous meetings, for a place in the last 16.

Fifth seed Kei Nishikori of Japan also coasted into the third round with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov.

Nishikori, the 2014 US Open runner-up, goes on to face former world No. 7 Fernando Verdasco of Spain for a place in the last 16.

Verdasco (32) is playing his 13th Roland Garros and will present Nishikori with a formidable challenge holding a 2-1 lead in their head to head record.

He won their only meeting on clay in Barcelona in 2012 although that came through an injury retirement.

Croatian 37-year-old Ivo Karlovic became the oldest man since Jimmy Connors in 1991 to reach the third round.

Karlovic, the 27th seed, defeated Australian wildcard Jordan Thompson 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (4-7), 12-10 in a four and a half hour marathon.

He unleashed 41 aces and 102 winners and goes on to meet either second seed Andy Murray or French wildcard Mathias Bourgue.

Connors was 38 years and 280 days old when he fell in the French Open third round in 1991.

Karlovic is also the oldest man to make the third round of any Slam since Connors, at 39 years and six days, reached the same stage at the 1991 US Open.

On Tuesday, women’s top seed Serena Williams needed just 42 minutes to dispatch Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova 6-2, 6-0 as the American aims for another title that would see her equal Steffi Graf’s Open era record of 22 Grand Slam wins.

Seven-time major winner Venus Williams, who lost the 2002 final to sister Serena, edged out Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4), while 2008 champion Ana Ivanovic held off French wildcard Oceane Dodin in three sets.

Former runner-up Sam Stosur overcame Misaki Doi of Japan 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, but Francesca Schiavone, the 2010 champion, bowed out in straight sets to French 26th seed Kristina Mladenovic.

Yesterday, former runner-up Simona Halep and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova were all early second round winners at the French Open.

Spanish fourth seed Garbine Muguruza defeated French wildcard Myrtille Georges 6-2, 6-0.

Muguruza, a quarter-finalist in the last two years, goes on to face either Russian 27th seed Ekaterina Makarova or Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer.

Sixth seed Halep, the losing finalist to Maria Sharapova in 2014, endured a rollercoaster tie on Court Philippe Chatrier against Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan before securing a 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 win. Halep will next face Japan’s Naomi Osaka, the world 101 who has reached the third round at a major for the second successive time having also enjoyed a run to the last 32 in Australia.

Osaka (18) knocked out 34-year-old Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-3, 6-3 which would have been relief to Halep who lost to the world number 52 Croatian at the French Open last year and US Open in 2014.

Kvitova, the 10th seed, saw off Taiwan’s Su-Wei Hsieh 6-4, 6-1 in a much more comfortable outing than her opener against Danka Kovinic where she had been just two points away from defeat at one stage.

Kvitova, a semi-finalist in 2012, next faces Shelby Rogers of the United States. Russian 13th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2009 champion, was too strong for Britain’s Heather Watson winning 6-1, 6-3.

Kuznetsova next faces Fed Cup teammate Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova who saw off Cagla Buyukakcay, the first Turkish woman to win a match at a Grand Slam, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.

Second seed Agnieszka Radwanska, a quarter-finalist in 2013, has a tricky assignment against Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia who won the Strasbourg title at the weekend on clay.

Radwanska leads their head-to-head 2-1 including a win on clay in Madrid in 2013 but all of the pair’s three meetings have gone to three sets. — AFP.

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