Andy Murray celebrates his victory against Santiago Giraldo, in Paris, on Saturday. (Reuters)

Paris: Fourth-seeded Andy Murray of Britain reached the fourth round of the French Open with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo, on Saturday.

Murray, who complained of a bad back in his second-round win over Jarkko Nieminen, showed no ill effects during a two hour, two minute win in which he never lost his serve and faced break point only once.

Murray, trying to reach the semi-finals of a Grand Slam tournament for the sixth straight time, will next face either Tommy Haas or Richard Gasquet.

Mikhail Youzhny was having such a bad day in the third round that he felt the need to apologise, right on court during the match.

The 27th-seeded Russian scraped the word “sorry” — actually “SORRi!” — into the clay with his right foot in the middle of his 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 loss to No. 6 David Ferrer, on Saturday.

“There were a lot of people. That’s why I write ‘sorry.’ Because I can’t show them a nice game,” Youzhny said. “The way we played in the beginning, it was not really interesting for people.”

Youzhny is well-known for a more painful on-court meltdown. In 2008 at the Sony Ericsson Open, Youzhny whacked himself in the head with his racket three times after losing a point. The antic left him with a thick stream of blood running from his hairline down his nose.

Against Ferrer, Youzhny won his first game early in the second set, making it 2-1. He held serve at love when Ferrer sent a forehand return into the net. But instead of heading straight for his chair for the changeover, he stopped just inside the service line and started writing out his message.

A ball boy stood nearby with Youzhny’s towel, and then backed off as the Russian continued drawing out the letters.

“People in the stands may not have noticed, but I think I had to do this,” Youzhny said.

Ferrer said he didn’t even see it. “I don’t know why he put this in the court, but I don’t have (anything) to say,” said Ferrer, who is the fourth round at Roland Garros for the fourth time.

On the women’s side, 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone lost to Varvara Lepchenko of the US 3-6, 6-3, 8-6 and fourth-seeded Petra Kvitova advanced by beating Nina Bratchikova of Russia 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.

Defending champion Li Na also advanced, but needed three sets to defeat Christina McHale of the US 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Lepchenko, who was born in Uzbekistan but now lives in Pennsylvania, is unseeded at Roland Garros and had never before made it past the second round at any Grand Slam tournament. She had 44 unforced errors against Schiavone, but still managed to advance.

“It’s her court, you know,” Lepchenko said. “I knew that she’s not going to give it for free. I had to work really hard, and I did.”

Schiavone won her only Grand Slam title at the French Open two years ago. Last year, she lost to Li Na in the final.

Kvitova is the only player ranked in the top 10 that has not yet reached a final this year. But she missed some tournaments with injury and illness.

“I had already a tough season. After Australia I was really injured and I couldn’t play,” said Kvitova, who won her first Grand Slam title at last year’s Wimbledon. “So I’m happy that I can play right now and I can be healthy and play my tennis again.”

Maria Sharapova moved into the round of 16 with a 6-2,

6-1 victory over Peng Shuai. The second-seed, who needs a championship at Roland Garros to complete the career Grand Slam, has lost only five games in three matches so far in Paris.

Her next opponent is Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic, who defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-3, 7-5.