By all rights, Andy Murray should not be playing a fourth round match.  Michael Berrer had been struggling against Murray who was threatening to break throughout the early parts of the second set.  Berrer hit a drop shot which caused Murray to twist his right ankle just as he hit a hard shot down the line that lead to an errant pass by Berrer.  Break point, but was it the end of Murray’s run through the French?

Andy Murray had as sweet a draw as one could imagine.  He opened against a qualifier and then would play the winner of two qualifiers in the second round.  Milos Raonic lost in the first round.  Other potential seeds that Murray would meet were losing early.  Murray had his best clay season of his career reaching two semifinals of Masters 1000 on clay.  All talk of lost motivation which lead him to  two consecutive losses to players with rankings in the triple digits evaporated as Murray made a recovery on his weakest surface.

And all of it appeared to be evaporating.  But Murray couldn’t have asked for a better, or at least, more sympathetic opponent.

Berrer has a heart after all.  He saw Murray wounded, and perhaps worried that the crowd would boo him for drop shotting–something that had, coincidentally enough, happened to Murray a few weeks earlier against Gilles Simon, began to play conventional tennis.  Murray was stuck, and had no choice but to hit hard.  Fortunately, unlike a player like Ferrer, he has the kind of power to just hit balls for winners.  He doesn’t do it very often, but it did help him win Toronto where he beat Nalbandian, Nadal, and Federer in succession.

Murray continued to break and hold.  Given the circumstances, a victory–in straight sets was all he could have wished for short of Berrer retiring.

Murray had 48 hours to recover.  It would turn out that another player, Fabio Fognini, would also need to win a match hobbled.  Fognini wondered if he could play a quarterfinal match against Djokovic.  Realizing he wasn’t going to be 100% against the winningest player on tour, Fognini may have decided why bother aggravating an injury.  Even a healthy Fognini would struggle to beat Djokovic.  This is the second Slam in a row that Djokovic has had an opponent not play a full match.

Indeed, Hanescu retired in his third set and Fognini decided not to play at all.

Murray started his match against Troicki looking a bit ginger from the ankle.  It was certainly a lot better than it was against Berrer, but still not 100%.  This lead to a quick 5-0 lead for Troicki, and it seemed like Murray would falter quickly.

But then something odd happened.  Murray broke and he broke again.  He had chances to break again, but Troicki managed to win the first set.  From then on, Murray’s movement seemed a lot better.  Murray resorted to slicing and dicing, looking more like Murray of 2008 rather than Murray of 2011 which was more aggressive.  Murray was giving Troicki low-pace shots, trying to hit short, and induce the Serb to come to net.

Troicki again got enough breaks to win the second set.  Yet, Murray’s movement was looking much better, as he was able to chase down drop shots, and unlike his match against Prodon, actually win points off them.  Murray got a key break in the third set after going down an early break, then got another, and managed to win the set.

At this point, Troicki had to be wondering what was going on.  Murray was moving as well as ever, hitting hard shots.  With the sun setting, Troicki seemed to find the lack of light more problematic than Murray.  Murray secured a break in the fourth set, then a second, and took the set, 6-2.

It’s now down to a one set sprint.  Darren Cahill said the main issue for Murray is how quickly he warms up.  It took almost two sets before Murray got comfortable.  He might have to consider playing a set or so prior to playing Troicki so he can start warmed up.  This is something Nadal would sometimes do to get out of the gates faster.

The two will be the first match of the day to give Murray or Troicki as much rest as possible for a quarterfinal match.  Indeed, this section of the draw is great for everyone.  Whoever wins this match plays Juan Ignacio Chela and would be highly favored to win.  The wily veteran continues to find ways to win.  Chela must also see this as a great opportunity to make a semifinal.

Troicki apparently suffered from food poisoning earlier in the week, but it hasn’t affected his play.

Of the quarterfinals, the most intriguing is Nadal vs. Soderling.  It was Soderling that knocked Nadal out for the first time ever at Roland Garros.  Although Nadal has yet to drop a set since being pushed to five sets in the first round, people feel Nadal isn’t playing that well.  Andujar threatened to take a set, and it took a heroic effort by Nadal plus some choking by Andujar to get the third set.  Nadal had much fewer problems against Veic, but he is a qualifier.  Nadal won over Ljubicic in straight sets, but had a somewhat close match.

Nadal worked his way into form at Wimbledon last year.  Soderling was his key match too.  Nadal knows he needs to move Soderling around and withstand his attack.  If he’s nervous, it will slow.  It’s possible Nadal has an injury he’s not talking about.  It’s not like he hasn’t dealt with this in the past.

For his part, Soderling has been looking more and more confident.  He pulled off two huge upsets in the last two years.  He might be thinking he can do it again.  Personally, I think Nadal will get through this, but Soderling is likely to make him work for it more than he did last year when Nadal was in much better form.