Andy Murray beats Andrey Golubev to reach second round at French Open

Paris: Wimbledon champion Andy Murray survived a minor scare to advance to the second round of the French Open on Tuesday, beating Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev 6-1 6-4 3-6 6-3.

The seventh-seeded Briton, who has never made it past the semi-finals at Roland Garros and skipped the tournament last year with a back injury, next faces Australian Marinko Matosevic or Dustin Brown of Germany.

Murray cruised through the first two sets but in the third, world number 53 Golubev reached another dimension, firing forehand winners and mixing it up with drop shots to reduce the arrears.

Murray, who underwent back surgery last September, quickly regained his composure and ended the contest on his third match point with a service winner.