World number one Andy Murray reached the French Open third round on Thursday with a bruising 6-7 (3/7), 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7/3) win over Martin Klizan of Slovakia.

Murray will face Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro for a place in the last 16.

"I expected a tough match. Martin goes for his shots, he can hit winners with that forehand from anywhere on the court," said 2016 runner-up Murray.

"I tried to play a solid match, I hit deeper the longer the match went on and tried to dictate the points."

Murray faced Del Potro in two epic encounters last year.

He beat the Argentine in a marathon Olympic final before Del Potro, now 30 in the world, gained his revenge with a come-from-behind win in five sets in the Davis Cup semi-final.

"It will be very tough. Juan Martin is playing a lot better than his ranking," said Murray.

"He's come back from injury and had some tough draws this year. It should be a great atmosphere."

Klizan smashed 57 winners on Thursday but 64 unforced errors as his all-or-nothing game proved in vain.

French Open results on Thursday, the fifth day of the 2017 tournament at Roland Garros (x denotes seeding):
                  
2nd rd

Andy Murray (GBR x1) bt Martin Klizan (SVK) 6-7 (3/7), 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7/3)
Juan Martín Del Potro (ARG x29) bt Nicolas Almagro (ESP) 6-3, 3-6, 1-1 -- retired
John Isner (USA x21) bt Paolo Lorenzi (ITA) 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/2)
Karen Khachanov (RUS) bt Tomas Berdych (CZE x13) 7-5, 6-4, 6-4
Hyeon Chung (KOR) bt Denis Istomin (UZB) 6-1, 7-5, 6-1
Kei Nishikori (JPN x8) bt Jérémy Chardy (FRA) 6-3, 6-0, 7-6 (7/5)
Stan Wawrinka (SUI x3) bt Aleksandr Dolgopolov (UKR) 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5
Fabio Fognini (ITA x28) bt Andreas Seppi (ITA) 6-4, 7-5, 6-3
Kyle Edmund (GBR) bt Renzo Olivo (ARG) 7-5, 6-3, 6-1
Feliciano Lopez (ESP) bt David Ferrer (ESP x30) 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4
Marin Cilic (CRO x7) bt Konstantin Kravchuk (RUS) 6-3, 6-2, 6-2