It’s magnificent seven for Murray as he shines once again in Shanghai
Andy Murray continued his excellent form yesterday with a straight-sets win over Frenchman Lucas Pouille in the third round of the Shanghai Masters.
His 6-1, 6-3 win over the world-ranked No 16 is the seventh consecutive match that Murray has won without dropping a set. He cruised to a second round win over USA’s Steve Johnson, winning 6-4, 6-3 after five straight sets wins landed him the China Open last week.
Pouille only lasted 77 minutes as the Dunblane star broke him four times in the two sets, serving five aces though he will want to improve on a 46 per cent first-serve.
The world No 2 broke 22 year-old Pouille in the second and fourth games and won the opening set in 39 minutes.
Thirteenth-seed Pouille was broken immediately at the start of the second set and although he managed to hold his serve three times thereafter, he was unable to stop Murray from breaking again to seal victory.
Murray now faces a quarterfinal tie against Belgium’s David Goffin who beat Frenchman Gael Monfils 4-6 6-4 6-2. He boasts an unbeaten record against Goffin — who he memorably defeated in the Davis Cup final last year — and hasn’t even lost a set to him.
Brother Jamie is still waiting to play after he and partner Bruno Soares received a firstround bye then saw their second-round opponents from Spain Roberto Bautista Agut and David Ferrer scratch from the tournament.
The No 1 seeds will now face Finn Henri Kontinen and Aussie John Peers — Jamie’s former partner — in the quarter-final.