Murray foe in clay-court form taunt
THE MAN standing between Andy Murray and a career-best performance at the French Open has vowed to exploit the British No1’s weakness on clay.
World No65 Janko Tipsarevic admits he is the underdog for this afternoon’s third-round clash and could end up being “eaten alive”.
But the Serb says he is not scared of third seed Murray and has identified aspects of the Scot’s game on his least favourite surface that he intends to exploit, as the pair battle to reach the fourth round for the first time.
“I have nothing to lose, therefore I am not scared. I’ll rely on the fact that he’s, in my opinion, still not 100 per cent comfortable on clay,” said Tipsarevic.
“My idea would be to move him as much as possible, because on clay courts he still needs to, in my opinion, use sliding a little bit more.
“My psychological profile is that when I play against a top player, in my head something is telling me that if I stop doing what I know best, which is attack, he’s going to eat me alive.”
Murray and Tipsarevic have won two matches apiece of their four previous meetings, but are yet to clash on clay. The 24-year-old from Belgrade has already seen off Spain’s Albert Montanes and 28th seed Feliciano Lopez at Roland Garros this year.
Meanwhile, second seed Roger Federer survived a wobble to beat Argetina’s Jose Acasuso 7-6 (10-8), 5-7, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 and reach round three. Also through were fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro, 10th seed Nikolay Davydenko and 16th seed Tommy Robredo.
Women’s third seed Venus Williams had to save a match point before squeezing through 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 7-5 against Czech Lucie Safarova. Sister Serena had a far easier passage into round three, beating Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-2, 6-0. They were joined by fifth seed Jelena Jankovic and seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.