Murray's bid gathers momentum

Murray was in fine form as he defeated home favourite Fabrice Santoro 6-4 6-2 to seal a place in the quarter-finals - his minimum target at the start of the tournament.

The British number one is doing battle with a handful of players to clinch eighth spot in the ATP Tour Race, and earn his place at the lucrative event in Shanghai.

Santoro made Murray's job easier by beating Novak Djokovic in the previous round.

The first two games followed serve before some strong play from Murray - and a missed lob from his opponent - handed the 20-year-old a first break point. He spurned that but accepted a second to take the lead.

Santoro refused to lie down, though, and hit back at the first opportunity, breaking Murray in a lengthy fourth game.

The Frenchman kept the tempo high and Murray had to raise his own game in order to clinch a second break, defeating his opponent with some clinical passing shots. Santoro held the ninth game to make Murray serve for the set, which he did with little trouble.

Murray continued to produce regular winners, securing another break at the first attempt before holding serve to go 2-0 up.

The Scot then produced perhaps his most complete game of the day to make it 3-0, beating Santoro to love on his own serve with a series of fine cross-court winners. Santoro again failed to score as an increasingly dominant Murray cantered into a 4-0 lead.

It came as a relief for the home fans when Santoro finally opened his account in the set, making it 4-1, but there were no further breaks of serve as Murray closed out the match.