Andy Murray finds form as he makes winning start in Paris

It may be too early to tell yet whether Andy Murray has turned the corner and found a way out of his current slump in form, but a win in the first round of the French Open '“ and a decent win at that '“ is good start.

World No1 Andy Murray returns the ball during his win over Russia's Andrey Kuznetsov in the first round of the French Open. Picture: AFP/Getty Images

Barring a dip in concentration in the second set, the world No 1 looked aggressive, comfortable and untroubled as he moved past Andrey Kuznetsov 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 and on to an appointment with Martin Klizan tomorrow. After a set to get his bearings followed by a set he would rather forget, he put his foot down and raced towards the next round.

With six aces, 29 winners and only 24 unforced errors (and only seven errors in the last two sets), it was not a bad performance for a bloke who has been struggling to find motivation and inspiration for the past few months.

“It definitely got better as it went on,” Murray said. “I started to move a bit better towards the end. Was hitting the ball better when I was defending. That’s something the last few weeks I haven’t done so well and didn’t start off the match doing particularly well. But once I was getting a little bit more on my ball when I was defending, there wasn’t too many openings for him in the points. It was a decent start, considering obviously how I played in the build-up.”

But now he must face the 27-year-old world No50 from Slovakia – and Klizan hits the ball so hard he appears to have a grudge against it. This will be a sterner test of Murray’s rediscovered resolve but if he can string together a couple of decent performances it will work wonders for his confidence. And at least here he has a little more time on court to iron out any wrinkles in the best-of-five set format.

“That does help a little bit, because at least if you don’t start the match well you’ve got a bit of time to work it out and adjust to the conditions a little bit,” Murray said. “That’s one of the advantages of the best-of-five. So maybe at the beginning of the match, if you’re coming in with maybe not too many matches, you feel slightly less pressure than you might do if it was best-of-three. Because if you get down a set quick [in best-of-three], there’s not lots of, you know, wiggle room there. You’ve got to turn it around quick.”

Klizan possesses all the natural warmth of an ingrowing toenail and the interpersonal skills of a Rottweiler with halitosis. Even in his native Slovakia, a country where journalists lie some way below insurance brokers, estate agents and axe murderers in the popularity polls, any story about Klizan appearing in the paper elicits the same reader response: in favour of the author and against the subject. He is not a popular chap.

Just in case there should have been a shred of doubt about his character, Klizan did everything in his power yesterday to show the world exactly what he was made of. He spent more than three-and-a-half hours getting past Laurent Lokoli, a wild card entry from France who is ranked No 285 in the world, 7-6, 6-3, 4-6, 0-6, 6-4. Through it all, he moaned about the crowd – he felt Lokoli should do something to quieten them down – he gave every impression of a man who was throwing the fourth set and, when things were not going his way, he hobbled (he came into the tournament with the lingering effects of an old calf injury). When, at last, he claimed the victory, he traipsed over to Lokoli to shake hands. But the Frenchman just waved him away dismissively and then accused him of showing no respect and faking injury.

“I was thinking maybe he’s going to stop doing this or maybe he’s going to retire,” Lokoli said. “Who knows? But then he was holding his leg for two sets. He was fighting like hell and then, all of a sudden, you don’t know why, you do your drop shot. He doesn’t run. He doesn’t do anything. That’s why I won 6-0 in the fourth set. And then during the fifth set, who knows why? All of a sudden it changes.”

Klizan, in his own inimitable way, would not be drawn on any of this. Was he injured?

“I don’t tell you my problem,” he deadpanned.

What did he think of Lokoli’s accusations?

“No comment about this.”

And him refusing to shake hands at the end?

“I don’t care. No comment at all.”

As for the possibility of playing Murray, who was just digging in against Kuznetsov as Klizan spoke, he was not giving an inch there either.

“No comment about what can and can’t happen.”

Then again, Klizan may not be asked for a comment after tomorrow’s match, not if Murray continues improving at his current rate.