Football
Reuters 16y

UPDATE 1-Tennis-Open-Murray toils past French teenager

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By Miles Evans

PARIS, May 25 - Britain's Andy Murray needed all
his steely resolve to beat the youngest man in the field at the
French Open on Sunday, finally triumphing 6-2 1-6 4-6 6-0 6-2
against French wildcard Jonathan Eysseric.

The 10th seed, who faced a second successive grand slam
first-round defeat, looked beguiled by the speed and angles of
his 17-year-old opponent before finally crossing the finishing
line in two hours and 44 minutes.

"I never felt like I was going to lose the match, I was
feeling pretty much under control," said Murray, who added he
had been suffering with a throat infection in the buildup to the
match.

"But I knew it was going to be tough. I've not played too
many matches at Roland Garros before and obviously playing a
young guy you've not seen takes a little bit of time to get used
to. But maybe it took a bit longer than I hoped today."

Murray, 21, was absent from last year's tournament due to a
wrist injury and appeared to be cruising to his first win at
Roland Garros when he wrapped up the opener in just 34 minutes.

The Scot, who lost to Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried
Tsonga in the first round at Melbourne Park in January, has
endured a poor clay season and again looked vulnerable as
Eysseric, 18 on Tuesday, exploded into life.

The dashing left-hander hit a succession of winners to lift
the home crowd and level the match and he looked on the cusp of
a shock when he clinched the third set 6-4 despite relinquishing
a 5-1 lead.

But Murray, winner in Doha and Marseille this season, found
an extra gear as Eysseric visibly tired and he reeled off 12 of
the next 14 games to complete the comeback.

He now faces a tricky second-round encounter with clay
specialist Jose Acasuso of Argentina and felt he had a good
chance of progress.

"Acasuso is not a great player. He's a very good player on
clay. It would be a very good win on clay, that's for sure."
(Editing by Clare Lovell)

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