Andy Murray battles past Joao Sousa into round three

The twice semi-finalist took his winning run on clay to 12 matches, starting and finishing the second round clash in fine style, but there was a period in the middle when it went awry.

The 28-year-old Briton had looked in control against an opponent he had never dropped a set to, but in the eighth game of the second he was broken to love and also received a time violation warning from French umpire Pascal Maria.

He immediately broke back but serving at 4-5, 15-30 Sousa came up with a perfect drop shot to earn two set points and converted the first with a smash on to the baseline.

Sousa had break points early in the third set with Murray clearly rattled, but he wasted one with a rushed forehand return and then saw a booming Murray ace disappear down the middle line on the second.

Murray raised his game, broke at 3-3 and took control from then on, moving on to an eye-catching third round match against Australian trailblazer Nick Kyrgios.

"He played very well at the end of the second set and the beginning of the third, so I had to weather the storm," Murray, who is tipped to be a serious challenger this year, told kilt-wearing interviewer Fabrice Santoro on court.

Kyrgios, the 29th seed, enjoyed a day off after British opponent Kyle Edmund withdrew with a stomach injury.

1-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beat Gilles Muller (Luxembourg) 6-1 6-4 6-4

17-David Goffin (Belgium) beat Santiago Giraldo (Colombia) 6-3 4-6 7-5 6-2

Andrey Kuznetsov (Russia) beat Jurgen Melzer (Austria) 6-1 5-7 7-6(0) 7-5

6-Rafa Nadal (Spain) beat Nicolas Almagro (Spain) 6-4 6-3 6-1

Thanasi Kokkinakis (Australia) beat 27-Bernard Tomic (Australia) 3-6 3-6 6-3 6-4 8-6

23-Leonardo Mayer (Argentina) beat Jerzy Janowicz (Poland) 6-4 6-4 6-7(1) 6-1

Pablo Andujar (Spain) beat 22-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) 6-1 7-6(5) 3-6 3-6 6-4

9-Marin Cilic (Croatia) beat Andrea Arnaboldi (Italy) 7-6(3) 6-1 6-1

29-Nick Kyrgios (Australia) beat Kyle Edmund (Britain) walkover