World number two Andy Murray has held off the challenge of Radek Stepanek to advance to the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open.
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It was a slow start from Murray, who lost his serve in the opening game of the match as Stepanek went 2-0 and then 3-1 up.
However, the Scot hit back in the sixth game of the first set before six holds of serve followed, meaning that a tie-break was needed.
In the breaker, the pair changed ends level at 3-3 but Murray then reeled off four points in a row to take the lead.
Stepanek was not deterred by losing the opener as he again broke Murray straight away, this time consolidating his advantage to level the match 6-3.
The world number 148 ran out of steam in the decider, though, as Murray raced out to 5-0 lead before closing it out 7-6(3) 3-6 6-1 in two hours and 19 minutes.
Murray will be up against either 16th seed Gilles Simon or Pablo Carreno-Busta in the last 16.
Pascal Lemesre
