ANDY MURRAY survived a major mid-match slump to defeat Potito Starace in four sets in the second round of the French Open yesterday.

The British number one was a 6-3 2-6 7-5 6-4 winner against the Italian on Philippe Chatrier court, setting up a third-round clash with either Janko Tipsarevic or Feliciano Lopez, the 28th seed.

Murray started and finished solidly but his form dipped dramatically in the second and third sets, when he lost 11 out of 13 games to the world number 104.

The first set was all about Murray’s nagging consistency. Although he landed just 62% of his first serves, that department was very solid as he dropped just three points on serve.

It meant Starace was always under pressure on his serve, and after Murray squandered two break points in the third game, he earned two more in game five, taking the second of them with a fading backhand down the line.

The Scot took the 31-minute set at the first time of asking when Starace netted trying to retrieve a cute Murray drop shot but the flow of the match suddenly changed.

The Briton saved two early break points but was up against it in his next service game, in the third game of the set, as he faced five more.

He saved the first four, each time coming to the net, but on the fifth Starace emerged triumphant thanks to a blocked backhand at the end of a wonderful rally.

A powerful cross-court backhand on the first of two break points allowed Starace to go 4-1 up and he did not wilt in the face of fierce Murray resistance when serving for the set, taking it at the fourth time of asking.

Murray was just as error-prone at the start of a riveting third set, as he was broken twice to slip 5-1 down.

Murray won another five games on the spin as he broke three times to claim a set that looked to have got away from him.

The fourth and final set went with serve until 5-4, when Murray claimed a hard-fought victory on his third match point.