Andy Murray continued his serene passage at the Australian Open with a comfortable straight set win over giant-killer Jeremy Chardy in the quarterfinals.
The No. 3 seed has not dropped a set so far in the tournament and was never in danger of making a blemish in that department as Murray strolled to a 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 victory in just under two hours over his French opponent, who had previously knocked out former U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro in the third round.
Murray entered the semis of the opening Grand Slam of the year for a fourth year in a row, and will look to add the Australian Open to his U.S. Open title he won last year after defeating Novak Djokovic in an epic five-set battle.
The Brit, who hit 35 winners in all in the match, was pretty satisfied with his performance.
"I started the match pretty well I thought," he said. "Then when he got a break back in the first set, I became a bit tight.
"He's a tough guy to play against because of the nature of his game and his style. He goes for a lot of shots and he can play a couple of games where he misses and then, three, four games he's hot and he makes very few errors and puts you under a lot of pressure.
"So, yeah, that's why it's tough to play against him. But I thought I did a pretty good job throughout the match. There were a couple of games I could have done a bit better on, but for the most part it was good."
Chardy acknowledged he had just come against an opponent in inspired form.
"Yeah, I think I don't play bad today," he said. "I played a good match, but he was too good for me.
"I have a chance and I thought I try many thing, but no chance for me. He was too good, so...
"I played a good tournament, so I'm still happy. But it's tough to lose with no solution."
Murray plays the winner of the match between Roger Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in the semifinals.
