• Western & Southern Open

Murray makes quiet progress into Cincinnati last eight

Andy Murray hit 11 aces in his victory over Alex Bogomolov Jr © Getty Images

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Andy Murray's preparations for the US Open took another step in the right direction after he progressed to the quarter-finals of the Western & Southern Open on Thursday.

Murray's American hard court season has been far from ideal so far, crashing out of the Rogers Cup in the early stages to leave the British No. 1 scratching around for court time in the doubles. However, he built on a second-round win over David Nalbandian in Cincinnati with another comfortable triumph over Alex Bogomolov Jr, easing to a 6-2 7-5 victory.

No. 4 seed Murray had a loss to avenge against Bogomolov Jr, who inflicted defeat upon the Scot in Miami earlier this year. There quickly became no chance of a repeat though, as Murray tore through the first set in commanding fashion.

Operating away from the glare of the mass media on Court 3, Murray enjoyed using his opponent's power to his advantage as he absorbed the Bogomolov Jr first serve, creating five break points of which he converted two.

Ranked No. 50 in the world, Bogomolov Jr was only in the Cincinnati tournament as a qualifier, and the American looked out of his depth as he conceded another break in the first game of second set. He did hit back immediately for 1-1 on games, but Murray always found his first serve too inviting and a third consecutive break once again handed the Brit the advantage.

Murray's serve wasn't at its best despite firing down 11 aces, and he was pegged back once again at 4-4 after some adventurous hitting by his rival. It was never a reason to panic for the world No. 4 though, who forced Bogomolov Jr to send a lob long for the final break of the match, serving out in under two hours.

Murray will now face tenth seed Gilles Simon in the last eight after the Frenchman edged out David Ferrer 6-4 6(3)-7 6-4. Their match lasted over three hours as both men traded multiple breaks of serve before Simon closed out the hard-fought encounter.

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