Andy Murray fights back to claim victory in French Open second round

Andy Murray showed plenty of spirit to overcome Jarkko Nieminen.©Reuters

Andy Murray overcame a back injury to claim an excellent victory over Jarkko Nieminen in the second round of the French Open.

The Stirlingshire ace beat the Finn 1-6 6-4 6-1 6-2 to seal a place in the third round of the competition in Paris.

The Scot didn’t look comfortable from the start of the match and called for the trainer at 4-0 down in the opening set.

After receiving treatment, the 25-year-old played on but the Finn took to set 6-1 with Murray unable to serve properly.

The problem is nothing new and forced him to pull out of the Madrid Masters earlier this month.

World number four tried to play down concerns after his first round win over Tatsuma Iko but he was clearly struggling.

Nieminen forced the early break early in the second set and there appeared to be no sign of the momentum changing even as the Scot forced two break points.

However the Finn struck back to move 4-2 ahead before Murray raised his game to take a 5-4 lead.

Incredibly he secured the set and broke Nieminen early in the third before saving a break point at 0-2 to take a grip of proceedings.

Murray was restricting the world number 48 to as few forehands as possible, and he was making little impact with his backhand.

And the Dunblane ace made him pay by storming ahead to take the lead for the first time with a 6-1.

Things got even better for Murray as he established an early break of serve in the fourth with Nieminen appearing out of ideas.

His spirit broken, a second break went the Scot’s way to give him the chance to serve for the match.

And Murray made no mistake to cap a truly incredible performance. He will now play Santiago Giraldo in the third round.

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