PARIS: Andy Murray stepped up his assault on Novak Djokovic’s world number one ranking by thrashing Lucas Pouille to ease into the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters on Thursday.
Murray reeled off the final eight games as he dispatched French 13th seed Pouille 6-3, 6-0 to extend his winning streak to 17 matches.
“I thought I returned well today. I had chances in almost all of his service games throughout the match. And on this surface, obviously when it’s a bit quicker, that’s good,” said Murray.
“I felt tired (this morning) because it was a late finish (from Wednesday night when Murray defeated Fernando Verdasco) but I felt all right once I got going,” added the second seed, having equalled last season’s career-best total of 71 wins.
Murray, runner-up in Paris last year, will meet Tomas Berdych or Gilles Simon next as he bids to end long-time rival Djokovic’s 122-week run at the top of the rankings.
The Scot has won three straight tournaments — in Beijing, Shanghai and Vienna — to drastically close the gap on Djokovic and must at least reach the final in Paris to stand a chance of displacing the Serb.
Djokovic recovered from an early wobble to defeat Grigor Dimitrov 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 as he tries to keep Murray at arm’s length.
The record four-time champion will remain above Murray at the top of the rankings if he makes Sunday’s final in the French capital, but Djokovic was made to sweat by the Bulgarian.
He fell behind after losing serve twice in succession in an hour-long first set and then required medical treatment on his right knee after landing awkwardly while stretching for a return.
But Djokovic kept his calm as the errors mounted from Dimitrov to claim the second set with relative ease, and he broke early in the decider to wrest away control of the match.
“He started off the match very well. I knew it from the beginning that it’s going to be tough. That’s all I can say,” said Djokovic, who swiftly dismissed any concerns over his knee.
“No problem, thankfully. Just an awkward footing in that point, but all is well.”
