ANDY Murray was relieved his French Open dreams were still intact after he survived a mid-match slump to defeat Potito Starace and make the third round at Roland Garros.

The British number one was a 6-3 2-6 7-5 6-4 winner against the Italian on Philippe Chatrier court, setting up a clash with Janko Tipsarevic.

But Murray was given a real fright in the second and third sets, Starace – the world number 104 – winning 11 out of 13 games as the Scot imploded.

Murray managed to recover from 5-1 down in that third set to win six games in a row and lay the platform for his hardfought victory.

‘‘I got broken at the start of the second set and after that, he started playing a lot better,’’ said the 22-year-old.

‘‘I left a lot of balls in the middle of the court. I was playing further behind the baseline. And his big weapon is his forehand, and he managed to make me move a lot with that. But the most important thing is I found a way to win and I’m very happy to be in the next round.’’ Top seed Rafael Nadal posted a routine, straight-sets victory over Teimuraz Gabashvili round to break more records at Roland Garros.

The Spaniard, bidding for a fifth successive title in the French capital, won 6-1 6-4 6-2 In beating Gabashvili, Nadal set an all-time record of 30 straight wins at Roland Garros.