Another day, another five set rollercoaster for Andy Murray at the French Open!
Murray, who had to dig deep yesterday to beat Radek Stepanek, was locked in another street fight on Philipe Chatrier today with Mathias Bourgue before coming through 6-2, 2-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
The little known Frenchman, ranked No.164 in the world and 16th in France, was playing in his first ever Grand Slam having been awarded a wildcard.
If people hadn’t heard of the 22-year-old before they stepped onto the clay court, they certainly do now after he pushed the British No.1 to the limit in Paris.
After taking the opener and breaking early in the second set Murray looked on course for a comfortable afternoon’s work.
It didn’t quite go to plan. Bourgue, with a vocal crowd behind him, transformed and started playing some incredible tennis to win eight games in a row, breaking Murray four straight times on the way.
Murray regrouped but couldn’t get the break back as Bourgue impressively won his last four service games for the loss of just one point.
Into a fourth set we went and the World No.2 had to save three break points in his very first game before stamping his 
authority back on the match by breaking twice to level proceedings.
Bourgue had never played a fourth set, let alone a fifth, but continued to produce some brilliant tennis to recover from 5-1 to 5-3.
The game was up though after just over three and a half hours when Murray served it out to end a thrilling clash and set up a Round 3 meeting with big-serving Ivo Karlovic.
Murray said: "Mathias was excellent and made me run a lot. He's got a fantastic future for sure.
"You can't play too many matches like this if you want to go far in this tournament. I hope to win the next one a little bit faster."
Stat attack:
- Before today, the last time Murray played consecutive five-set matches was at the US Open in 2005
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