A FEW unexpected timing issues might have slowed Andy Murray's Parisian progress.

But the World No 3 proved yet again that you cannot count him out at the slams.

Dark clouds were gathering, both metaphorically and literally, for the Scot when it reached late afternoon at Roland Garros. Not only had Murray surrendered his first set of the tournament to Joao Sousa of Portugal, but in a tournament fast becoming defined by Rafa Nadal's pre-tournament request to avoid one particular official, the World No 3 had found Pascal Maria on the hardline end of the spectrum when it comes to enforcing the time code of modern tennis.

Monsieur Maria issued the World No 3 with two separate time violation warnings in the course of this second round match, much like Carlos Bernardes had done to so enrage serial offender Nadal during his Rio semi-final in February. If anything Murray had even more reason to feel slighted. Not only is he one of the quicker players on the tour, but the second had occurred while he was waiting for the big screen replay of the previous point to finish.

But rather than submit, the Scot stoically weathered the storm. Two third set break points were saved before he clinched a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win, a victory which now sees him face exciting young Australian star Nick Kyrgios in the third round.

While those clouds never came to anything, this brooding row over the time rules certainly will. With such inconsistency from the chair, and discrepancies between the shot clocks in operation - it is 25 seconds for ATP Tour matches, and 20 seconds at the slams - it is little wonder that Murray feels it is high time this sport got its story straight. He said he would never request to avoid a particular umpire like Nadal and insisted this was not a personal attack on Maria, merely a feeling that there were too many grey areas in the current rules. He stopped short of calling for a shot clock, such as the one which operates in sports such as basketball or the International Premier Tennis League.

"I like the time violation rule," said Murray. "It's there for a reason. Sometimes I play too slow and that's unintentional. But obviously as a player you have no idea how long you're taking in between the points and the reality is when you're out there playing on a court like that, things do kind of happen sometimes. You don't get the ball in time or the towel in time. Or the second one that I got I genuinely I was up at the line I think in good time, but they were showing the highlight from the point before, so I didn't serve.

"If you just do it based on a shot clock, you take the fans out of the match a little bit," he added. "Because sometimes, like on a big point or a set point, they tend to clap and make some noise.

"I made no issue about it on the court during the match. I know Rafa has had a few issues with Carlos, but for the most part, everyone gets on with it pretty well. But it's one of the few rules in our sport which there is a bit of a grey area there. It's better when rules are black and white."

There had been little hint of any of this turn of events during a first set in which Murray put his opponent in an early stranglehold and refused to let go. An epic, 12-minute opening game featuring seven deuces saw Sousa, who like Murray had left his family home in Guimaraes at the age of 15 to seek fame and fortune, save four break points before a trademark two-handed Murray backhand up the line capitalised on No 5. Another service break followed before the set was comfortably his.

Unlike the Scot, Sousa hadn't yet found that fame and fortune, having to settle for being in close proximity to it as a client of Portuguese super-agent Jorge Mendes and friend of soccer superstars such as Cristiano Ronaldo. He had reached a final on clay last week, although his physical prospects weren't particularly enhanced by a demoralising defeat in the doubles on Wednesday to Andy's big brother Jamie and his Aussie partner John Peers.

Murray's first serve percentage had dropped worryingly to just 31% in that second set - decided in Sousa's favour after three straight service breaks - but it was back when he needed it most, a couple of aces arriving at crucial moments before a break in the seventh game of the set did the damage.

At one point he and Maria were huddled around the service line, trying to decipher the outline of a ball in the clay like a golfer and his caddy trying to line up a putt, but by the end of a 26-minute final set the margins in this match had become a chasm. Kyrgios promises to be a closer run thing on Saturday. "He's obviously a very talented guy and he likes the big stage," said Murray. "He's had some good results at the slams and he obviously beat Roger a few weeks ago on the clay. So he can cause a lot of players trouble."

All that remained was the novelty factor of being interviewed post-match by a Frenchman, Fabrice Santoro, wearing a kilt. Violations or not, Murray continues to make good time at Roland Garros.