Murray, Halep look to kick on in Paris

[June 01, 2017]  PARIS (Reuters) - With a French Open first-round victory safely under his belt following a poor run on clay, world number one Andy Murray will hope to crank through the gears on Thursday in his second-round match against Martin Klizan.

The 50th-ranked Slovakian has also failed to set the world alight on the red dirt this season, though he did run Novak Djokovic close on the hard courts of Acapulco in February.

After Tuesday's morale-boosting four-set victory over Russian Andrey Kuznetsov, top seed Murray called Klizan unpredictable but was also happy to talk up his own prospects.

Romanian third seed Simona Halep, who hit the ground running in a straight-sets demolition of Jana Cepelova, will also be seeking to burnish her title credentials against 102nd-ranked German Tatjana Maria on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Philippe Chatrier court plays host to two home hopes -

15th seed Gael Monfils, who faces Brazil's Thiago Monteiro, and

Alize Cornet, who may have her work cut out against 20th-seeded Czech Barbora Strycova.

(Reporting by John Stonestreet, editing by Ed Osmond)

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Great Britain's Andy Murray in action during his first round match against Russia's Andrey Kuznetsov. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann