French Open: Andy Murray fells giant Ivo Karlovic

Canada’s Milos Raonic returns to Andrej Martin of Slovakia in their French Open third round match at Roland Garros in Paris on Friday. Raonic won 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, 6-3. (Photo: AFP )

Andy Murray cut down Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic to reach the French Open last-16 Friday as two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova became the fourth top 10 women’s seed to be knocked out.

Murray, a three-time semi-finalist, had needed two five-set matches and three days of play to get to the last 32.

But on Friday the 29-year-old needed just a shade under two hours to beat 6ft 11in (2.11m) Karlovic 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3).

It was his seventh win in seven matches against the 37-year-old as Murray goes on to face either John Isner of the United States or Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia.

“Especially at the end it was very close. I got off to a quick start and against someone like Ivo that’s very important,” said Murray.

Canada’s eighth seed Milos Raonic overcame a left hip injury to defeat Slovakian lucky loser Andrej Martin, the world number 133, and reach the last 16 for a second time.

Raonic won 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, 6-3 but only after requiring a medical timeout at the start of the third set to treat a hip injury.

Raonic, a quarter-finalist in 2014, next faces 55th-ranked Albert Ramos-Vinolas after the Spaniard stunned American 23rd seed Jack Sock 6-7 (2/7), 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

Kei Nishikori of Japan also reached the last 16 with a 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-4 win over Spain's Fernando Verdasco.

The fifth seed, a quarter-finalist in 2015, will play Richard Gasquet for a place in the quarter-finals after the Frenchman defeated Australian Nick Kyrgios 6-2, 7-6 (9/7), 6-2.

Muguruza in last-16 Spanish fourth seed and last year’s Wimbledon runner-up Garbine Muguruza won the last nine games to knock out Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer 6-3, 6-0.

Muguruza, a quarter-finalist in the last two years, faces a Russian challenge in the last-16 where either dangerous 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova or Anastasia Pavlychenkova will be her opponent.

Romanian sixth seed Simona Halep, the runner-up to Maria Sharapova in 2014, needed three sets to see off 18-year-old Japanese player Naomi Osaka 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Halep, 24, next faces 2010 finalist Sam Stosur who defeated 2015 runner-up Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-7 (0/7), 7-5.

It was only Stosur’s fourth win 15 meetings with Safarova who has been troubled for most of this season with a debilitating bacterial infection.

Czech 10th seed Kvitova became the fourth top 10 seed to exit by the third round after she lost 6-0, 6-7 (3/7), 6-0 to American world number 108 Shelby Rogers.

Paes, Bopanna advance Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna sailed into the men’s doubles third round with their respective partners.

Sixth seeds Bopanna and Florian Mergea defeated France’s Gregoire Barrere and Quentin Halys 6-3, 6-4 in the second round.

Paes, playing with Polish partner Marcin Matkowski, too won their second round match comfortably.

The 16th seeds beat the Austrian-German combine of Julian Knowle and Florian Mayer 6-4, 6-3.