Andy Murray beats Chela at the French Open

In weather that was more Scottish than Parisian British number one Andy Murray advanced to the third round of the French Open with victory in four sets over Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina.

Murray faces Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus (the 25th seed) in the fourth round later today and the Scot will be hoping the weather proves more reliable than it did during his defeat of Chela. It took 24 hours and four rain interruptions before Murray emerged triumphant with a 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-2 victory.

The pair began their match on Wednesday evening but darkness brought proceedings to a halt with Murray having taken the first set and the second set poised at three games apiece. They were scheduled to resume their match on Court One at 1pm on Thursday but heavy rain kept them in the locker room until 5pm. And the Heavens opened just nine points into the resumption, sending the pair hurrying for cover. Back they came a while later and this time it was Chela in dominant form, with the Argentine taking the tie-break after Murray’s forehand let him down.

At 1-1 in the third set - and the time now 7pm - the rain returned and it looked likely that the match would go into a third day, but then the skies cleared and Murray seized his chance. He broke Chela in game eight of the third set and eventually took the set 6-3. The Scot then produced a superb volley to break Chela early in the fourth set and in front of a dwindling crowd went on to take control of the match, with the winning shot a flashing cross-court backhand that brought him victory a couple of minutes before 9pm.

Afterwards Murray admitted he hadn't been at his best but said the constant interruptions didn't help: "After the rain delays I felt slow right at the beginning. I warmed up well as always, but when you're waiting around all day you feel a little bit lethargic... I chased a lot of balls down and played better as the match went on, I was just quite nervous and tense at the restart... Coming off the court sometimes for 15 minutes or a little bit longer, it's tough to get into a rhythm."

In other results American Andy Roddick beat Blaz Kavcic of Slovenian in four sets to reach the third round but there was misery for the home crowd when France's Gael Monfils (the 13th seed) lost his second round tie to Fabio Fognini of Italy. ·