After battling through his first two rounds in five sets, Andy Murray enjoyed a much more straightforward victory in the third round at Roland Garros on Friday, defeating Ivo Karlovic 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(3).

The Scot was two points from defeat as he rallied from a two-set deficit against Radek Stepanek in the first round and overcame an inspired performance by French wild card Mathias Bourgue to prevail in five sets on Wednesday.

Murray has enjoyed great success against 6’11’’ Karlovic in the past and Friday was no different as he toppled the Croatian in one hour and 56 minutes to improve to a 7-0 lead in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

The Scot surged through the first two sets, taking advantage of the 37-year-old Karlovic having been extended to 12-10 in a fifth set in his second-round win over Jordan Thompson. Murray was thwarted on two break points in the fifth game of the third set, but went on to dominate the ensuing tie-break, sealing victory on his first match point as Karlovic returned serve wide.

“Especially at the end, it was very close in the third set,” said Murray in his on-court interview. “I got off to a quick start [in the match] and against someone like Ivo, that’s important. He fought right to the end and made it very tough. I’m obviously glad to win the tie-break and get off after a fairly quick match.

“The return has normally been the strongest part of my game, but even still, against him, it’s not always up to you. When he serves well, there’s not much you can do. I just try to stay patient and take care of my own service games.”

The 29-year-old Murray came into Roland Garros in red hot form, winning his third ATP World Tour clay-court title by defeating Novak Djokovic in the Rome final. The Dunblane native has been a semi-finalist at Roland Garros in three of the past five years, losing out to Djokovic in a five-set thriller last year.

As he continues his quest for a third Grand Slam title, adding to victories at the 2012 US Open and 2013 Wimbledon, Murray goes on to face John Isner for a place in the quarter-finals.

Eighth seed Milos Raonic continued his flawless progress at Roland Garros as he advanced to the fourth round with a 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-3 victory over lucky loser Andrej Martin on Friday.

The Canadian is yet to drop a set in Paris to reach the fourth round for the second time after wins against Janko Tipsarevic and Adrian Mannarino. In his first tour-level meeting with the No. 133-ranked Martin, Raonic twice squandered a break advantage in the first set, missing five set point opportunities, before clinching the opener in the tie-break on his eighth set point chance.

Two breaks of serve in the second set gave Raonic a two-set lead and, after letting slip an early break advantage in the third set, the Toronto native reeled off the final four games of the match from 2-3 down to prevail.

The 25-year-old Raonic reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final at Roland Garros two years ago, falling to Novak Djokovic. The right-hander has a 27-6 match record in 2016, highlighted by winning his eighth ATP World Tour title in Brisbane (d. Federer), finishing runner-up in Indian Wells (l. to Djokovic) and reaching the semi-finals at the Australian Open (l. to Murray).

Next up for Raonic will be either No. 23 seed Jack Sock or Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock are off to a good start at Roland Garros, prevailing 6-1, 7-5 against Thomaz Bellucci and Martin Klizan on Thursday. The seventh seeds swept the last five games of the first set and got the late break in the second set. Pospisil/Sock saved all four break points faced in the 80-minute encounter. In the second round, they will face 2014 champions Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

Other seeded teams also enjoyed success in their opening matches. Second seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau beat Guido Pella and Horacio Zeballos 6-4, 6-4. The Dutch/Romanian duo held 14 break points, converting two. They move on to face 2008 champion (w/ Horna) Pablo Cuevas and 2014 finalist (w/ M. Lopez) Marcel Granollers.

Third seeds and defending champions Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo dismissed Robin Haase and Viktor Troicki 6-0, 6-3 without facing a break point. Dodig/Melo raced out to a 6-0, 3-0 lead before serving out the match in 42 minutes. Their second-round opponents will be Frenchmen Tristan Lamasine and Albano Olivetti.

Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares eased past Russians Evgeny Donskoy and Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3, 6-3 in the first round. Murray/Soares went three-for-three on break points to set up a meeting with French wild cards David Guez and Vincent Millot.

Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan defeated Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Santiago Gonzalez 6-2, 6-3 in the first round. The fifth seeds captured the Roland Garros title in 2003 and 2013, and were runners-up on four occasions. Last year, they lost the final to Dodig/Melo.

Sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga delighted the French crowd on Court Philippe Chatrier by rallying from two sets down to defeat Marcos Baghdatis in their second-round match on Thursday, 6-7(6), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. 

The early stages of the match saw Tsonga unable to convert several opportunities. The Frenchman missed a set point in the opening set tie-break and couldn’t take advantage of break point chances to lead 3-0 lead in the second set. A volley winner on break point gave Baghdatis a 5-3 lead in the second set and he closed things out one game later to take a commanding two-set lead.

True to his competitive nature, Tsonga refused to bow out quietly. Finding the range on his shots, he raced out to a 4-1 lead in the third set and brought the crowd into the match after clinching it. Although he did more running in the baseline rallies throughout the fourth set, it was Baghdatis who appeared tired as the Frenchman brought the match to a deciding set.

Tsonga once again grabbed an early break of serve to start the fifth set. Continuing to chase down drop shots after more than three hours of play, he converted on his third break point chance at 4-2 and comfortably served out the match one game later. He improved his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Baghdatis to 7-1.

The win marked the third time in Tsonga’s career that he came back from two sets down. The last time he did was against Roger Federer in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 2011. Next up is former Roland Garros semi-finalist Ernests Gulbis of Latvia.

In the first upset of the day, Gulbis prevailed in his second-round over No. 26 seed Joao Sousa of Portugal, 6-2, 7-5, 6-3. Gulbis was in peak form throughout the contest, firing 60 winners to just 25 unforced errors. Tsonga leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 3-2, but Gulbis won their most recent match in 2014 at the ATP World Tour 250 event in Marseille

Twelfth seed David Goffin continued his impressive form by winning over Carlos Berlocq of Argentina, 7-5, 6-1, 6-4. The Belgian was in full flight in the latter stages, hitting 22 winners to 13 unforced errors in the last two sets. He will play veteran Nicolas Almagro of Spain for a place in the second week.

“I’m very happy to win the match in three sets against such a good clay player in the second round of a Grand Slam,” said Goffin. “That gives me confidence.”

Almagro reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time in three years by defeating Jiri Vesley of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3. The former World No. 9 racked up 19 break points throughout the contest and converted on six of them. Almagro leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Goffin 3-0, but they haven’t played in over three years.

Novak Djokovic is through to the third round at Roland Garros, but he’s not content with his current form.

The No. 1 seed continued his quest for the career Grand Slam on Thursday by overcoming a tricky match against qualifier Steve Darcis of Belgium, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. Djokovic had an early break in all three sets, but Darcis came back in each of them before the World No. 1 regained the momentum.

“I was pleased to get the job done in three sets, but there were things that I definitely didn’t like in my game today,” said Djokovic. “Too many unforced errors from the first or second shot of the rally. Credit to Steve for playing a lot of variety and mixing up the pace…[but] hopefully that’s not going to happen in the later rounds.”

Djokovic once again has coach Boris Becker accompanying him this tournament. He credited the six-time Grand Slam champion with his outstanding year and said the German has brought noticeable changes to the mental part of his game.

“Boris was the first choice [as coach]. I’ve had some great times with him the past couple of years and learned a lot from a psychological point of view of how to handle things on the tour, on and off the court,” said Djokovic. “He’s somebody who has personally experienced those ups and downs, so he can convey that knowledge and experience to me. His contribution to the team is definitely big and everything has worked in harmony so far.” 

Djokovic will next play Aljaz Bedene of Great Britain, who is in the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career. The Serbian defeated Bedene in the opening round of last year’s Australian Open, but is expecting a different match this time.

“We practised a bit in Monte-Carlo and a couple of other places. He’s a good guy, very talented and a quick motion for his first serve,” said Djokovic. “He doesn’t have anything to lose and I’m sure he’ll give it his all. I just hope I can sustain the pressure that comes from him and enjoy my time on the court.”

In a matchup between rising ATP World Tour players, #NextGen star Borna Coric prevailed 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(4), 7-6(6) against 20^th seed Bernard Tomic on Thursday at Roland Garros. Coric, No. 47 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, erased a set point during the fourth-set tie-break to avoid a fifth set.

The 19 year old reaches the third round at Roland Garros for the second consecutive year. Last year, he lost to American Jack Sock in straight sets. This year the Croat will face 14^th seed Roberto Bautista Agut, who dispatched Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-1.

“I think I have very good quality of tennis at the moment, especially on the clay court, and I think it’s going to come,” Coric said of more success.

Bautista Agut leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Coric 2-1, including two clay-court wins last year. By reaching the third round, the Spaniard matches his best result at Roland Garros (2014).

Another 19-year-old #NextGen star also moved on in Paris on Thursday. Alexander Zverev upset the home crowd by beating French wild card Stephane Robert 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. “You can feel immediately that his game is where it has to be… His backhand shots are really good. There is not much effort. His tennis is well balanced… and that’s a great strength of his,” Robert said of Zverev. “It’s nice to see this. He’s going to be one of the future big names.”

The 36 year old, No. 90 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, was playing in his sixth Roland Garros main draw. “I felt good during the tournament, and there were things I had to work on. That’s very, very positive for me,” Robert said.

Zverev, in his Roland Garros main draw debut, advances to the third round, his best showing yet at a Grand Slam. The German will face 13^th seed Dominic Thiem in a rematch of the Open de Nice Cote d’Azur final on Saturday. Thiem won that contest 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 to gain a 2-0 advantage in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry.

Rafael Nadal recorded his 200^th Grand Slam match win on Thursday at Roland Garros, but he isn’t counting.

The No. 4 seed and nine-time Roland Garros champion needed less than two hours to move into the third round by defeating Facundo Bagnis of Argentina, 6-3, 6-0, 6-3. He became just the eighth tennis player in tennis history to achieve 200 Grand Slam wins,

“My first Grand Slam was at Wimbledon in 2003. It had always been a dream for me,” said Nadal. “But the most important thing is a victory in the second round and not the 200 victories. It’s only another number.”

Nadal has been in top form the past few days, dropping 10 games in his first two matches. It’s the most dominant start he’s had in a Grand Slam since Roland Garros in 2014, when he lost just as many games in the first two rounds.

“I won two matches with comfortable results. I played the way that I had to play to be in the third round,” said Nadal. “After a difficult first three games today, I played a solid match with not many mistakes and having control of the situation most of the time. I need to keep playing better if I want to have chances in the next rounds.”

Nadal will next play Marcel Granollers of Spain. He leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Granollers by 4-0, but said past results won’t factor into his preparation.

“Each year is different and things keep changing. We have a new story to write. The only thing I know is that I have reached the third round,” said Nadal. “I just need to play my matches each day. I know there are still things I can improve, so I’m still practising and working on them.”