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Andy Murray pleased with quick Ivo Karlovic win

French Open: Andy Murray was pleased to beat Ivo Karlovic in under two hours after being taken to five sets in opening two matches.

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Andy Murray was happy to avoid another stamina test by beating Ivo Karlovic in straights sets to reach the fourth round of the French Open on Friday.

Second seed Murray struggled against Radek Stepanek and Mathias Bourgue, needing five sets in both matches to secure his progress after being in real danger of a making shock early exit at Roland Garros.

Dispatching of Karlovic 6-1 6-4 7-6 (7-3) in just under two hours affords the Briton more time for recovery ahead of his next outing on Sunday.

"Obviously any match you play, the quicker you get it done, the better, especially in these events when the best of five it can go [on] long," said Murray.

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"So it was nice to win quickly. I spoke about that the other day, if it was possible to get this one done quickly, it gives me a chance to kind of recover from the first few days, which is good.

"It's a matchup that I like. I have had good success against him in the past and I have always enjoyed playing against serve and volleyers.

"I didn't know my opponent in the second round, never really seen him play a match, which can make things a bit tricky, but today was different."

Murray felt that a quick, explosive start and the ability to maintain it throughout the match enabled him to see off the towering Croatian.

"I did feel a bit better on the court than I did the first couple of days. I know it's a different match, different game style, but I felt a little bit better, which is good," he continued.

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"I think a lot of it came down to sharpness and explosiveness – it's not so much the endurance or the long points that you need to worry about.

"I got off to a quick start. If you're getting good looks on returns against Ivo, then there is a good chance moving forward – that I will be getting good looks on other players' serves. That was positive for me.

"I didn't give him any break-point opportunities, [I made] very few unforced errors. There was a lot of positives."

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