Day Eight: Murray flies into quarter-finals

World number three Andy Murray has eased into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open after defeating an exhausted Gilles Simon.

Murray's fourth round match lasted one hour and 32 minutes on the Hisense Arena, with a 6-3 6-1 6-3 win over Simon.

The Briton is now into his fourth consecutive quarter-final and will play Jeremy Chardy on Wednesday.

Simon may not have been a major threat for the number three seed, after the Frenchman's grueling five hour win in the last round.

Murray handed it straight back to love with a poor service game that saw him misjudge a Simon drop shot and then fire a backhand wide and a forehand into the net.

The Frenchman sent a forehand wide to make it three breaks in a row, and that was pretty much that. Murray wrapped up the first set after 37 minutes that had seen the pair hit 31 unforced errors between them, and just 11 winners.

Simon was visibly struggling by now, barely moving for one thumping Murray forehand, but the third seed again handed back an early break thanks in part to a wayward overhead.

It did not signal a fightback - Murray rattled off the next four games to move two sets clear as Simon slowed by the game.

A retirement looked on the cards when Simon had to stop and stretch at one point in the closing games, before swatting a seemingly unmissable forehand into the tramlines.

However, the Frenchman at least made it to the end.

Murray put Simon out of his misery on his second match point to wrap up a win that will not live long in the memory, but will serve the Briton better than the type of marathon match seen already this week.