World number four Andy Murray sailed into the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday while fifth-ranked Kei Nishikori crashed out of his last-16 test at Indian Wells.
The Scotsman posted a routine 6-3 6-3 win over Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, but Japan’s Nishikori failed to keep their expected clash in the last eight by losing 6-4 7-6 (2) to 12th-seeded Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez.
Nishikori, last year’s U.S. Open runner-up, failed to cash in on six of his seven break points as he fell to the hard-serving Lopez, who registered 12 aces.
Murray kept the pressure on Mannarino throughout the 90-minutes match, reaching break point 11 times and breaking serve four times for a comfortable victory.
The victory means Murray has now equalled Henman’s 496 career wins, which represents an Open era record for a British man.
However, Murray was made to work hard by Mannarino’s aggressive ground strokes but the Frenchman was too inconsistent and Murray took full advantage.
“It was a very tough match, he’s playing very well this year and he’s got a very tricky game,” Murray told Sky Sports.
“He’s a lefty but he has a very flat backhand and a short take-back on his forehand so it’s hard to read.
“He moves well and he has good hands around the net – in both sets though he played one or two loose games which helped me and I stayed solid throughout.
“I was frustrated to get broken in the first set, I thought I started well but he came out firing.
“I tried to make a lot of balls and he didn’t play a great game in the next game and that stopped his momentum.
“I started to feel more comfortable after that and went for my shots more.”