Victorious Murray silences Chardy with racket work
By Pritha Sarkar PARIS (Reuters) - Andy Murray let his racket, rather than his mouth, do the talking when he silenced Jeremy Chardy with a 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-2 win in the fourth round of the French Open on Monday. The Frenchman was critical of Murray's decision to pull out of last month's Italian Open, citing exhaustion, after he had lost to the Scot in the second round. "If you want to win a grand slam, everybody is tired," the Frenchman said. "So I was a little bit pissed when I saw he retired because of tiredness." The Scot showed just what he was capable of producing on Monday following the extra rest he gave his body in the buildup to the claycourt major. Murray bossed his opponent in the opening set. He let Chardy off the hook in the second but wore him down in the third and went in for the kill in the fourth. A forehand winner from the third seed left Chardy beating a hasty retreat from Suzanne Lenglen Court while Murray lapped up the applause after notching his 14th successive win on clay. The win also propelled Murray into his 17th consecutive grand slam quarter-final, a streak that would have been remarkable in any era other than the one featuring three of the greatest players ever, Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic. "I don't think there are loads of players that have done that," said third seed Murray, musing on his terrific streak. "Unfortunately I'm playing against guys that make some of the things I have done look pretty average because of how good they have been," added the Scot, who next faces Spain's David Ferrer for a place in the semi-finals. "Roger went through a period where he was making grand slam finals pretty much consistently, then he had that semi-final streak (a record 23 in a row). Then, obviously his quarter-final streak (36)... so in comparison to that, it's nothing. "But in terms of the history of the game, there are not loads of players that have been that consistent at these events... so that's something I'm very, very proud of." (Editing by Tony Jimenez and Ian Chadband)
