World No. 4 Andy Murray made quick work of Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu on Monday at the BNP Paribas Open, defeating the No. 32 seed 6-3, 6-2 to book his place in the fourth round at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament.
Murray took full advantage of his opportunities, converting five of his six break points chances during the one hour, 16 minute match. Mathieu had three break point chances, down 2-4 in the second set, but Murray succeeded in holding serve and went on to break the Frenchman to secure the win.
Mathieu, who committed a total of 36 unforced errors, was looking to win consecutive matches for the first time since reaching the Brisbane semifinals in the opening week of the 2009 season.
The 21-year-old Murray will next face either No. 15 seed Tommy Robredo of Spain or 19th-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic. All three players are off to career-best starts this season, ranking among the top six match wins leader on the circuit. They have each claimed two ATP World Tour titles; Murray won at Doha and Rotterdam, Robredo at the clay-court tournaments at Costa do Sauipe and Buenos Aires, and Cilic at Chennai and Zagreb.
American title hopes took a hit when 2006 finalist James Blake failed to get by 17th-seeded Chilean Fernando Gonzalez. The 7-5, 6-1 defeat marked Blake’s seventh straight loss against Gonzalez, who assumed the 7-3 lead in the head-to-head series.
“I think my serve was a big difference,” said Blake. “I think I probably got about two, maybe three free points, in the whole second set on the first serve. And when it was coming in, it wasn't hitting its spot. If I'm not getting any free points off of that, and he's as confident as he was playing after winning that first set, then it's going to be tough for me.”
Gonzalez, a fourth-round finisher in 2005 and ’07, will look to reach the quarter-finals for the first time at this event when he faces three-time champion Roger Federer. The Chilean had knocked out another past champion, 2002-03 titlist Lleyton Hewitt, in his second round opening match.
Federer was sharp in his 7-6(4), 6-3 victory over No. 27 seed Ivo Karlovic, winning 94 percent of his first serve points against the No. 27 seed. He secured the only break of serve to go up 4-2 in the second set and put away the victory on his third match point as Karlovic netted a return. Federer avenged his loss to the 6’10” Croatian at last year’s ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati.Unseeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber made his way into fourth round by overcoming a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 challenge from Ecuadorian Nicolas Lapentti. Kohlschreiber, currently No. 36 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings, awaits either No. 10 Fernando Verdasco or No. 23 Richard Gasquet.
(From Website : http://www.atpworldtour.com/TENNIS/1/EN/NEWS/NEWSARTICLE_2615.ASP)
