Tennis

Murray fitness under scrutiny as quarters beckon

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-05-30 11:07

Andy Murray of Britain reacts during his match against Michael Berrer of Germany at the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris May 28, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

PARIS - Fourth seed Andy Murray hopes to have recovered from an ankle injury in time to face Serbia's Viktor Troicki in the French Open fourth round on Monday when Rafa Nadal and Maria Sharapova are also in action.

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The Briton, scheduled to play during the late afternoon on Court Suzanne Lenglen, twisted his ankle when trying to slide on the clay to reach a ball in the second set against third-round opponent Michael Berrer.

Despite heavy strapping, he continued to wince throughout the rest of the match but the quality of his play arguably got better.

Like Troicki, Ivan Ljubicic is a tall and awkward customer and champion Nadal will have to continue his gradual improvement during the second grand slam of the year to stave off the Croat and join Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals.

The pair won through easily on Sunday by beating Stanislas Wawrinka and Richard Gasquet in straight sets on a sunny day.

Twice runner-up Robin Soderling must battle Gilles Simon, a fired-up French crowd and forecast heat and possible thunder storms if the Swede wants to make the last-eight party while the David Ferrer-Gael Monfils match from Sunday must finish.

With Vera Zvonareva's exit on Sunday meaning the top three seeds are out of the women's draw, Sharapova has a real chance of challenging for her fourth grand slam title but first since 2008 if she can beat 12th seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.

Australian Open runner-up Li Na of China has a difficult task in her assault on a quarter-final spot against ninth seed Petra Kvitova.