French Open Day 4 highlights: Murray survives again

Andy Murray survived a five-setter for the second straight
match in the French Open. 2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   Five highlights from Day 4 of the French Open:
   1. Second-seeded Andy Murray survived a five-setter for the second straight match, beating 22-year-old French wild card Mathias Bourgue 6-2, 2-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the second round.
   "He was excellent," Murray said after the 3-hour, 34-minute match. "He was the one dictating a lot of the points, making me run a lot right to the end, even when I had a big lead in the fifth set. He's going to have a fantastic future for sure."
   Murray won the first of his 36 tour-level titles in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose at 18 in 2006 and repeated in 2007. Those were his only appearances in the tournament.
   2. Ivo Karlovic, 37, of Croatia became the oldest man to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament since Jimmy Connors advanced to the U.S. Open semifinals 25 years ago.
   The 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) Karlovic, seeded 27th, edged wild card Jordan Thompson of Australia 6-7 (2), 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-7 (4), 12-10 in 4 hours, 31 minutes.
   Karlovic will face Murray in the third round. If Karlovic pulls off an upset, he could play 6-foot-10 (2.08-meter) John Isner, seeded 15th, in the round of 16.
   Karlovic leads Isner 3-2 in the head-to-head series, winning the last meeting 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) in the first round on a hardcourt in Acapulco in 2014.
   3. Gilles Simon's victory lasted one more minute than Karlovic's.
   Simon, a Frenchman seeded 16th, needed seven match points to outlast Guido Pella of Argentina 4-6, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4), 6-4. Pella, a 26-year-old left-hander, served for the match at 6-5 in the fourth set.
   4. Speaking of marathons, 25th-seeded Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania topped CoCo Vandeweghe of the United States 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 10-8 in 3 hours, 38 minutes. It was the longest WTA match this year.
   Vandeweghe reached the final of the 2012 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford as a lucky loser, falling to Serena Williams 7-5, 6-3. Vandeweghe held a set point in the first set.
   5. Third-seeded Stan Wawrinka, the defending champion, and second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska won in straight sets.

Northern California results

Men's doubles

First round  

   Brian Baker, United States, and Marcus Daniell, New Zealand, def. Marcos Baghdatis, Cyprus, and Dmitry Tursunov, Russia native who trains in Sacramento suburb of Granite Bay, 6-3, 6-2.

Women's doubles

First round

   Raquel Atawo, San Jose resident and 2003 NCAA doubles champion from Cal, and Abigail Spears (8), United States, def. Johanna Konta, Great Britain, and Maria Sanchez, born and raised in Modesto, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4.