PARIS -– Victor Troicki of Serbia jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first set of his match with Andy Murray of Britain at the French Open Monday.  Murray, the sometimes dour Scot who is seeded fourth, found himself hurriedly searching for ways to cool off Troicki’s hot streak, which included five outright winners and a pair of aces. The shaky start was not exactly a bad omen for Murray, but it took him nearly three hours to recover his stride.  When he did, the match was deadlocked and darkness was falling. Troicki, seeded 15th, won the first two sets, 6-4, 6-4, Murray won the second two sets, 6-3, 6-2. The final set was put off until Tuesday. How the first set played out explains some of what happened –- and didn’t happen. Trailing 5-0, Murray squandered a break point, then earned another when the Serbian’s forehand sailed wide. Troicki finally drilled a backhand into the net, yielding a game. With a pair of aces of his own, Murray appeared to steady his game by pulling back to 2-5. But it left Troicki with another chance to close out the set on his serve.  It didn’t happen – at least right away. Stroking both powerful winners and strong forcing shots, Murray broke Troicki and began reeling in his deficit. A forehand into Troicki’s corner bounded past him and gave Murray a 40-love lead on holding serve. Two points later, Murray had climbed back into the match, trailing 4-5.  Murray reached break point on Troicki’s serve with a finely angled return of a drop shot, but then appeared to choke, hitting a forehand at least 10 feet over the sideline.  Troicki wasn’t yielding just yet. He drove a forehand down the line and shook his fist when Murray couldn’t handle it. Then he flicked an untouchable forehand volley into a corner to reach set point, and attacked the net to pressure Murray. It worked, the Scotsman drove a backhand over the baseline and the Serbian had captured the set that he nearly let slip away.  At 4-all in the second set, Troicki broke Murray’s serve with a series of deft drop shot recoveries that forced Murray forward. On one break point, he lofted the ball too low and Troicki pounded it into the clay with an overhead smash that carried far beyond Murray’s reach.  Serving for the set, Troicki double faulted on his first set point. Murray’s forehand clipped the net and sailed wide to give Troicki another set point, which he quickly collected with an unreturnable serve to the deepest backhand corner. Murray’s return rose and fell only a few feet away. Second set to Troicki.  Both men held serve through the first five games of the third set. On the changeover at 3-2, Murray called for a trainer to remove and reapply a bandage to his right ankle, which he rolled in his third-round match with Michael Berrer of Germany. Back on court, Murray, showing no sign of pain, then won the third set on a single break.  Murray began to show signs of fatigue as the fourth set got underway, his breath coming in what appeared to be gasps. But Troicki started missing, and when he needed wind, Murray had enough to race to the net for a drop shot that he then pummeled into a winner.  When the umpire signaled that it was too dark to continue, both players left the court, Troicki looking somber, Murray fatigued but undaunted. Both will search for fifth set momentum when the match resumes at 2 p.m. local time (8 a.m. Eastern) Tuesday.  This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:  A previous version of this post misstated the time the match will resume on Tuesday. It will resume at 2 p.m. local time, not 11 a.m.
Andy Murray battled back from two sets down to Serbia's Victor Troicki, but a fifth set was delayed until Tuesday.