A third round victory over Nick Kyrgios may have taken his winning run on clay to 13 but Andy Murray is adamant he will still have to step things up a gear if he wants to make the business end of this year’s French Open.
Murray kept up his 100 per cent record over Australian Kyrgios when he recorded a 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 at Roland Garros on Saturday lunchtime.
The result extended the Brit’s unbeaten run on clay in 2015 and set up a last 16 round clash with either Jeremy Chardy or David Goffin.
Murray has never reached the final at the French Open, with semi-final appearances in 2011 and 2014 the furthest he has managed.
And while current results suggest he is closing the gap to the likes of nine-time champion Rafael Nadal, Murray is refusing to get carried away.
“I need to win a few more matches before I’m considered a clay specialist. There’s one guy in this tournament who’s won it nine times and I’ve never been to the final.
“It’s never easy for me here, clay is a surface I’ve never felt so comfortable on. All the matches for me have been tough but thankfully for me they haven’t been too long so I’ve conserved some energy.
“I’m trying every year to improve my game on clay, trying to get more consistent and so far this year has been my best tennis on clay.
“But it’s going to have to get better if I want to go further in this tournament.”
Despite recording a straight sets win on Saturday in one hour 59 minutes, Murray was not without his problems against his Australian opponent, including managing only 54% on his first serves.
Krygios was also hampered by an elbow problem which required treatment in the final set and Murray conceded it had played into his hands.
“It was a tough match, he was going for huge shots, he was making me play far behind the baseline,” he added.
“I was just trying to make as many balls as possible, try and use some variety, some slice and some higher balls to break up his rhythm and that worked well.
“At the end of the first set he was struggling a bit with his elbow and that slowed down his serve which is one of his biggest weapons and that helped me.”
© Sportsbeat 2015