• BNP Paribas Masters

Murray shrugs off injury concerns as he sails past Chardy

Andy Murray dropped was solid on his serve © PA Photos

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Andy Murray kept his bid for a fourth straight title alive with a comfortable victory over Jeremy Chardy to reach the third round of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris.

Murray, who pulled out of last week's Swiss Indoors in Basel with a muscle strain, showed no signs of ailment as he blazed to a 6-2 6-4 victory in the Palais Omnisports.

Murray is unbeaten since his US Open semi-final defeat to Rafael Nadal in September, and is bidding to win a fourth straight title in Paris after a hat-trick of victories in Asia last month.

Murray had never lost to Chardy in three previous meetings, and the world No. 3 had no intention of letting his unbeaten record slip as he burst out of the blocks against the French wildcard, storming to a 4-0 lead. Chardy finally stopped the rot to hold serve at 4-1, but showed little resistance as the Scot dropped just two points on serve as he wrapped up the opening set with ease.

Murray threatened to start the second set in a similar vein as the first, but Chardy held on to hold his opening service game. The world No. 110, who is poised to return to the world's top 100 following his first-round win over Marcel Granollers, began to find his range with a couple of neat winners to frustrate Murray in his bid to wrap up a quick victory.

But the Scot was imperious on his serve and never looked in danger of defeat, and he eventually broke Chardy's resistance, consolidating a break with a comfortable service hold. A wasteful backhand squandered his chances of clinching a double break, and the Scot was briefly on the back foot when Chardy took him to deuce, but Murray held his nerve to regain command of the match.

With the match swiftly running away from him, Chardy showed real determination to hold serve to force Murray to serve for the match, and the Scot survived a brief lapse in concentration to wrap up the victory in an hour and 19 minutes.

Next up for Murray is former world No. 1 Andy Roddick, who saw off the challenge of home favourite Julien Benneteau on Tuesday.

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