World No 1 joins fellow Brit Johanna Konta in the last eight at Wimbledon
Wednesday 12 July 2017 14:08, UK
Andy Murray became only the third man to record 10 straight quarter-final appearances at a Grand Slam by seeing off unorthodox Frenchman Benoit Paire.
The world No 1 joined legends Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors on the list after following up his victories over Alexander Bublik, Dustin Brown and Fabio Fognini with a successful 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 6-4 win against Paire.
With Johanna Konta defeating Caroline Garcia to seal her spot in the last eight it meant Murray and Konta became the British man and woman to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon since 1973 when Roger Taylor and Virginia Wade made it through.
The unpredictable Paire, who was in the last 16 for the first time, shared the better of three early breaks of serve to take a 4-2 lead before Murray showed his powers of recovery to take it into a tiebreak.
Paire promptly lost the first six points and Murray took it with a handsome 7-1 scoreline to the relief of a packed Centre Court crowd.
World No 46 Paire once declared that Wimbledon "displeases me greatly" after a first-round loss and was famously kicked off the French Olympic team last year in Rio, but he was showing more consistency this year, and looked a real danger at times by combining his powerful first serve with volleys and regular drop shots.
When Paire struck with the sixth break of serve in the match to level at 3-3 it seemed as though the momentum had swung his way. However, Murray used all his experience to break through again in the 10th game and seal the set.
The pressure eventually told on Paire when he netted on the forehand side to hand Murray the opportunity to serve out the match. And the top seed duly obliged with some huge groundstrokes to come through in two hours and 21 minutes and extend his dominant record against French players to 96-14.
He will next take on 24th seed Sam Querrey for a place in the semi-finals.
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