Andy Murray battles to hard-fought victory over Argentine Juan Martin del Potro in thrilling match at the French Open

SPOILSPORT Andy Murray denied tennis fans a classic match – by ruthlessly disposing of Juan Martin Del Potro.

Joking aside, this was a seriously good performance from Murray.

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The world No1 had to turn around an epic first set which Del Potro was controlling and win a second after failing to serve it out first time.

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And with the big Argentinian suffering physically, Murray ran away with the third to complete a 7-6 7-5 6-0 win in two hours and 53 minutes.

The neutral’s hopes of a match to rival the duo’s Olympic final or Davis Cup semi-final clash were ultimately dashed.

But the first set lived up to expectations.

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Del Potro was bludgeoning Murray off the court with his awesome forehand and kept finding big serves when the Brit had chances to recover from an early break of serve.

Murray saved one set point in the ninth game then missed three chances to break back in the 10th before saving another set point and then finally levelling at 5-5.

The eventual tiebreak – it started after 77 minutes of play – was incredible.

Murray started it with a double fault but recovered from 2-0 down to have two set points at 6-4.

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Del Potro saved them both then earned one of his own with some amazing relexes, but then double faulted.

Murray saved another set point and then brought up his own third with a fine dropshot. There was just a bit more drama to come.

The Brit was confident the Argentinian had gone wide with a forehand at the crucial moment but the umpire had to ask the line judge to show the mark before confirming the breaker had gone to Murray 10-8.

Del Potro was so disappointed he draped himself over the net for what seemed like ages. Eventually he returned to his seat, having thrown his racket to the ground.

It was no surprise that Del Potro quickly fell a break behind in the second. But after Murray failed to make it 3-0 with a double break, his opponent’s belief returned.

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And with the crowd chanting “DelPo,DelPo, DelPo”, he broke back for 5-5, as Murray had done in the first set.

But Murray was having none of it. He immediately raced into a 0/40 lead on the Del Potro serve and after the Argentinian had saved all three break points, simply brought up another and converted it.

An ace in the following game sealed the set.

Murray took the weary Del Potro’s serve in the first game of the third, and this time there was to be no comeback.

The world No1 raced into the lead and at times it was almost cruel the way he dragged his opponent side to side and backwards and forwards.

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Del Potro had two break points to avoid the embarrassment of a 6-0 “bagel set”. But Murray would not even allow him to save face.

Following the victory,  Murray said: “The first set was very very important.