Tennis:Andy Murray eased into the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters - and secured a place in the ATP World Tour Finals - with a straight-sets victory over Jeremy Chardy.
Murray, who is now guaranteed a place at the season-ending event at the O2 in London next month alongside Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, saw off the Frenchman 6-3 6-4.
Next up is a last-eight encounter with either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Florian Mayer. Although Murray was not at his best against Chardy, the outcome was rarely in doubt.
The Scot is not a fan of playing early in the day and being first on court meant a slow start was always a possibility and so it proved as he lost the first three points on serve.
He dragged it back, though, and then broke immediately to establish an early lead. Chardy, ranked 59 in the world, had chances to respond by establishing break-point opportunities in the fifth and seventh games but Murray managed to escape on each occasion.
And he served it out without alarm to take the opening set. World number four Murray wasted two chances to claim an early advantage in the second as well, two weak forehands allowing Chardy to wriggle free and keep it on serve.
But there was no way back for the Frenchman when Murray pressurised him again at 3-3. He saved the first two break points but then contributed to his own downfall by double-faulting - his first of the match - to fall 4-3 behind.
Murray showed no remorse by cruising through the rest of the encounter to secure victory in one hour and 21 minutes.
Murray was pleased with his performance but admitted the prospect of claiming a place in London contributed to one or two nervy moments.
"I thought it (his display) was very good. I hit the ball cleanly from the back of the court, not mis-hitting many balls, I moved better and served well when I needed to when I was down break points early in the match. It was a big match for me because I knew if I won I qualified for London so that was why I was a little bit nervous."
There was a sparse crowd inside the stadium court but Murray was adamant that didn't affect his levels of motivation.
"It's not necessarily a lack of motivation, it's just a question of bringing some energy into the match," he added on Sky Sports 1. I feel like when I am sweating a lot I am in a match and it's incredibly humid in here so it wasn't actually a problem today."