The fourth round match at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia on the Pietrangeli court saw Andy Murray brush aside Jeremy Chardy 6-0, 6-4. Following that victory, he will go up against David Goffin in the quarterfinals.
Dominant Murray
On a packed Pietrangeli, Murray got off to a blistering start. He held his first service game to love and on the Chardy serve, the Scotsman got to break point at advantage, which was taken by Murray, who hit a delightful drop shot to go 2-0 up. Murray consolidated for 3-0. In the following game, the world number three raced away to love-40 and the dominance continued after hitting an inch-perfect forehand down the line to break.
Once again he would consolidate and go within a game of taking the first set. With Chardy looking to get his first game on the board, he served a double-fault at 40-40 and the 28-year-old would reach his first set point. Murray hit a forehand down the line to take the first set and the bagel. Chardy was unimpressive on his second serve only managing to win three points from 16.
Murray stops Chardy resurgence
Murray continued to run away with the match and held his opening service game to make it seven straight games. The world number 32 stopped the rot and eventually got on the board in the match at 1-1. The next four service games were held pretty comfortably and with Chardy serving the set was all square at 3-3. In the seventh game, the Frenchman dug deep and had to save three break points en route to holding on. In the upcoming game, Chardy came alive in the match breaking Murray to go 4-3 up.
However, with Murray in control of the match, he broke straight back on his fourth break point of the game in the longest of the match. The world number three consolidated and went 5-4 up on the Frenchman who struggled throughout the match to stay with Murray. The two-time Grand Slam winner reached match point at 30-40 and had Chardy scampering in a mini-rally. He eventually finished off the match and advanced to the quarterfinals in one hour 17 minutes.
Key Stats
Andy Murray hit seven aces and produced two double faults while Chardy serves two aces and hit eight double faults as he struggled to find any rhythm. The Scotsman was quite impressive on serve having won 83 percent on his first serve and 63 on his second serve, meanwhile, the 29-year-old won 71 points on the first serve but struggled behind his second only managing to win 26 points.
Murray saved one out of two breaks, converting five from 12 and Chardy saved seven from 12 (63 percent) and converted one from two. The Olympic gold medalist only won 29 percent first return points but improved massively on his second winning 74 percent. Murray won a total 61 percent points.