Murray rallies to see off Starace

Andy Murray turned a potential defeat into an impressive victory in the blink of an eye when he took down sturdy Italian Potito Starace 6-2, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the second round. Down 1-5 in the third set and spraying balls outside of the lines, Murray fought off two set points and ran off six consecutive games to win the set, serving big, keeping his forehand deep and true and hammering his two-handed backhand. While the world No3 has never had great success at Roland Garros, he trained on clay as a junior in Barcelona and certainly has the know-how to go far. Whether he can find a comfortable style on dirt is still up for debate, but he is a cagey player with rock solid groundstrokes, fine movement and anticipation. After Starace pushed him about the court in the second set and during the first half of the third set with his huge forehand and deft drop shots, Murray began to play the match on his terms, playing further inside the court and cutting loose with his groundstrokes. The Scot won the third set with a gorgeous drop shot, but Starace rallied in the fourth set, adding pace to his groundstrokes and making sure to stretch Murray out as long as possible. But Murray had a fine read of the Starace’s weak second serves and pounced in the final game. The Italian fought off one match point with an overhead smash, a second with a forehand volley, but in the final point, Murray smoked a forehand winner crosscourt and pumped his fists in victory. Murray ended the match with 52 winners to 42 from Starace. With the second round victory, Murray equaled his best result here. In 2008, he fell to Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in the third round. Almagro was also a winner on Wednesday, besting Latvian sensation Ernests Gulbis 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-2. Murray will play the winner of the match between Feliciano Lopez and Janko Tipsarevic.