ANDY MURRAY will seek this afternoon to complete a spectacular comeback at the French Open.

Two sets down and a break of serve behind in the third set, he last night clawed his way back into his fourth-round match with Viktor Troicki, to level matters at two sets all.

The world No.4 and the 25-year-old Serb will now play a fifth set on Court Suzanne Lenglen for the right to play Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina in the quarter-finals.

This scenario looked a forlorn prospect for the Scot as he was completely out of sorts in the early stages of his match, losing the first five games, and seeming to be restricted badly by the ankle injury he suffered in his victory over Michael Berrer of Germany on the same court on Saturday.

There had been reports that the 24-year-old would play one set and then decide whether to carry on. Certainly, his practice hit earlier in the day was most gentle. However, Murray endured and ended the night at 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

The Dunblane player is thus trying to replicate his performance in the first round of Roland Garros last year when he won the match after losing the first two sets to Richard Gasquet of France. However, Murray was fully fit then and he will spend an anxious night wondering how his ankle will respond to the exertions of almost three hours against the world No.15 player.

Troicki will be plagued with memories of the first round against Novak Djokovic in the US Open when he lost the match after leading by two sets to one.

Chela, who defeated Alejandro Falla 4-6, 6-2, 1-6, 7-6, 6-2, to reach the quarter-finals, was frank in his assessment of the match between the Serb and the Scot. “I would rather play Troicki,” he admitted. “His serve is really excellent but Murray plays better. Troicki is a good player but Murray is one of the best players in the world. His game is more difficult.”

The winner of the quarter-final will play either Rafael Nadal or Robin Soderling. Nadal, who has won five titles at Roland Garros, defeated Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia in three sets yesterday but remains deeply unhappy at his performances.

“I have to hit the ball with a little bit more conviction,” said the world No.1. He cursed his inconsistency, saying his shot making deserted him at crucial moments.

“It’s true that I am not playing that well but I am in the quarter-finals again and I am going to fight to play better in the next match,” said the Spaniard.

“Sometimes it’s much more important to win when you are not playing well because it is always easy to win when you are playing well. Only the top players can win when they are not playing well.”

Nadal, who faces losing his No.1 ranking next week to Djokovic, was downbeat about his chances of winning a sixth French Open.

“No, seriously, I am not confident,” he said. “I am not playing well enough to win this tournament. That’s the truth. The thing is you have to be a realist and today I am not playing well enough. We will see tomorrow if I can raise my level. I am going to try.”

Nadal, known as the King of Clay, has enjoyed a domination on the surface but Djokovic is casting a long shadow.

The Spaniard now faces Soderling who defeated him at Roland Garros two years ago.