• French Open

Murray survives epic final set to reach last 16

Andy Murray and Philipp Kohlschreiber resumed play at 7-7 in the fifth set © Getty Images

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Andy Murray found his second wind to finally get the better of Philipp Kohlschreiber, needing 40 minutes on Sunday to complete a 3-6 6-3 6-3 4-6 12-10 win and reach the French Open fourth round.

The match was suspended at 7-7 in the fifth set on Saturday because of fading light.

"I was cramping yesterday. My muscles were obviously fatigued," Murray said. "I actually woke up [feeling] okay ... the nice thing about this surface, compared with the hard court, is when you have a tough match on the hard courts you wake up the next day and your hips are sore, your knees are sore."

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Kohlschreiber missed a chance to break Murray in the 19th game of the decider.

"He came up with some great shots when he was behind in games today," Murray said. "I thought both of us served a little bit better. It was a good finish to the match."

Murray crouched down and clenched both fists after hitting a two-handed backhand winner on Kohlschreiber's second serve with the score at 15-40 in the 22nd game.

"Last night was extremely tough for me. I did lot of running,'' Murray said. "Considering the circumstances, today I thought we both played some good points. We both came out probably pretty nervous.''

Murray also made light of a disturbed night's sleep of barely five hours.

"I was kind of ready to play at four or five in the morning," he said. "When you know you have to come back and it's seven-all the next day and every single point counts, basically you need to get off to a big start. You're obviously going to be a bit anxious."

He will get a longer rest before playing on Monday against Fernando Verdasco, who easily beat home favourite Richard Gasquet 6-3 6-2 6-3. Murray leads Verdasco 9-1 in their career head-to-heads but they have never met on clay, and had to come from two sets down to beat him in the quarter-finals on his way to winning Wimbledon last year.

Murray and Kohlschreiber shared the opening three games on serve when play resumed. Murray had the first match point at 9-8 in front, but Kohlschreiber saved it with an overhead smash to keep himself in the tie.

Kohlschreiber failed to convert a break point in the 19th game, however, as the following three games went on serve.

But Murray, on his second match point, sealed the win in style with a fine backhand on the rise.

Meanwhile, Roger Federer's streak of nine consecutive quarter-finals at the French Open ended on Sunday with a 6-7(5) 7-6 (3) 6-2 4-6 6-3 fourth-round loss to Ernests Gulbis.

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