Tennis: Murray, Halep look to kick on in Paris

Reuters , Thursday 1 Jun 2017

Andy Murray
British tennis player Andy Murray returns the ball to Spanish tennis player Albert Ramos during the ATP Barcelona Open "Conde de Godo" tennis tournament in Barcelona on April 28, 2017. (AFP)

With a French Open first-round victory safely under his belt following a poor run on clay, world No 1 Andy Murray will hope to crank through the gears on Thursday in his second-round match against Martin Klizan.

The 50th-ranked Slovakian has also failed to set the world alight on the red dirt this season, though he did run Novak Djokovic close on the hard courts of Acapulco in February.

After Tuesday's morale-boosting four-set victory over Russian Andrey Kuznetsov, top seed Murray called Klizan unpredictable but was also happy to talk up his own prospects.

Romanian third seed Simona Halep, who hit the ground running in a straight-sets demolition of Jana Cepelova, will also be seeking to burnish her title credentials against 102nd-ranked German Tatjana Maria on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Philippe Chatrier court plays host to two home hopes - 15th seed Gael Monfils, who faces Brazil's Thiago Monteiro, and Alize Cornet, who may have her work cut out against 20th-seeded Czech Barbora Strycova.

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