French Open 2011: Andy Murray set to play on at the French Open after scan reveals no major damage to ankle

Whether the Scot will be able to slide around the clay with anything like his usual freedom and confidence, so giving himself every opportunity of beating the world No15 from Serbia, remains rather more uncertain.

Murray, who damaged his right ankle while running to reach a drop-shot from Germany’s Michael Berrer on Saturday afternoon, was able to have a light practice session yesterday, in addition to being treated by a tournament doctor. Since Murray’s encounter with Troicki has been scheduled as the third match of the day on Court Suzanne Lenglen, he would have had around 48 hours of rest and recuperation before playing the Eastern European for a place in the quarter-finals.

Troicki, the second best Serbian tennis player after Novak Djokovic, has had food poisoning during the tournament, though it is not believed there is any danger he will be too weak to play Murray.

A commentator remarked on French television over the weekend that Murray has what amounts to “a virtual boulevard” through the tournament towards a semi-final against Rafael Nadal, though whether the fourth seed’s draw is kind or not hardly matters when there are concerns about his fitness.

If Murray is to beat Troicki, he will need to move around the court with much greater freedom than he did against Berrer. For the best part of two sets, he was inconvenienced by the injury, though he got away with it because he was striking some brilliant winners, and because Berrer felt sorry for his opponent and so did not play with the ruthlessness that he should have done. Troicki is unlikely to be so accommodating.

Without Troicki’s influence, this season could have turned out very differently. If he had lost the decisive fifth rubber of last December’s Davis Cup final against France, it is doubtful Djokovic would have launched himself at this season with such gusto.

Though no one has benefited as much from Troicki’s victory over Michaël Llodra in Belgrade as Djokovic, the Serbian No?2 is plainly a more assured presence on a tennis court now than he ever was before. He started this tournament at a career-high ranking and this is the first time he has made the last 16 of a slam.

Murray has beaten Troicki in straight sets in their three previous meetings, including in the third round of the 2009 Wimbledon Championships. However, this will be the first time they have played on clay, as well as the first time they have played when Murray has a sore ankle.

This has been the second medical drama of Murray’s clay-court season as at last month’s tournament in Monaco he required a cortisone injection into his elbow before losing his semi-final against Nadal.

If Murray beats Troicki, he will play either Juan Ignacio Chela, an Argentine ranked 34, or Alejandro Falla, a Colombian qualifier ranked 120 who is best known for having scared the heebie-jeebies out of Roger Federer in the first round of last summer’s Wimbledon. There was nothing frightening for Federer about his all-Swiss fourth-round match with Stanislas Wawrinka here, and he beat his friend 6-3, 6-2, 7-5. There were some fine shots from Federer, especially on the backhand wing. “Honestly,” said Federer, who has reached the quarter-finals without dropping a set, “I can’t believe how good my backhand has become.”

The brilliance of Djokovic’s tennis was such that he took all the tension out of the air on Court Philippe Chatrier, with his 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Frenchman Richard Gasquet extending his undefeated run to 43 matches, 41 of them this year.

Should Djokovic beat Italian Fabio Fognini, who won a 11-9 fifth set against Spaniard Albert Montanes, he would put himself level with John McEnroe’s record for the best start to a year, the 42-match run he assembled in 1984.

Vera Zvonareva’s defeat to fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova meant the top three women’s seeds have all failed to make the quarter-finals, as the departure of the world No3 followed that of Kim Clijsters, the Belgian world No2, who was eliminated in the second round, and Caroline Wozniacki, the Danish world No?1, who lost in the third round.

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French Open 2011: Kim Clijsters crashes of Roland Garros following defeat to Dutch world No 118 Arantxa Rus

The world No 2 was playing her first tournament after two months out with an ankle injury and looked rusty in her first-round win over Anastasiya Yakimova.

She seemed to be playing better in the early stages on Thursday but her level dropped midway through the second set and the decider was a horror show from Clijsters, whose first appearance at Roland Garros since 2006 was expected to see her challenge for the title.

Rus, ranked 114th in the world, must have feared the worst when Clijsters raced through the first three games but he dug in and began to trouble her opponent off the ground.

The second seed always had the edge though despite the windy conditions and a run of five hard-fought games in a row gave her the first set, and a 3-0 lead in the second.

Again Rus battled back, and the errors continued to come frequently from the Clijsters racquet, but it always seemed only a matter of time before the 27-year-old strung enough points together to finish things off.

However, after failing to take advantage of a match point at 5-2, she lost six of the next seven points to give her opponent a sniff of a chance, and Rus then saved another match point before levelling proceedings at 5-5.

The 20-year-old was now playing extremely well and she broke Clijsters - whose dream of a third grand slam title in a row was fast fading - for a second successive time before taking the second set with her fifth game in a row.

The Belgian, who did not appear to be moving particularly well, stopped the rot with a gutsy hold at the start of the third set but then let three break points slip away on the Rus serve.

When the Dutchwoman followed up by breaking again, the prospect of an early exit for Clijsters began to look a distinct probability.

The second seed had an outrageous slice of luck when a ball hit the top of the net and then the net post before dropping back into play but any thoughts that might indicate it was her day after all were swiftly dispelled.

A double fault handed Rus a 4-1 lead and she clinched a famous victory and a place in the third round of a grand slam for the first time on her second match point with a backhand winner.

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