Straight sets for Murray

Murray: Yet to drop a set

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Andy Murray reached the fourth round at Wimbledon with another straight sets win on Saturday, the fourth seed this time beating Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-1 6-4 6-4.

The Scot, who has yet to drop at set during Wimbledon fortnight, swept aside the 26th seed with ease and will now play 18th seed Sam Querrey.

Having been kept waiting for his latest Centre Court appearance following Rafael Nadal's five-set win over Philipp Petzschner - though not long enough for the roof to be deployed - Murray made a tremendous start.

The second and third sets were closer but the Scot was always destined for victory and sealed his success in less than two hours with his 15th ace.

Murray said: "It was a good match. As the match went on Gilles started to play better. It was starting to get dark and I had a few chances. I played a few nervous shots but I managed to close it out in the end."

Murray suffered indifferent form coming into the tournament and he admitted that things could hardly have gone any better so far this year in SW19.

"The first week was very good, three straight-sets wins, and with the way I was playing coming in it's a very good start for me," he said.

"I've conserved a lot of energy. I worked really hard the week before Wimbledon because I hadn't played a lot of matches, spent a lot of time on the practice court and in the gym, so it's nice to have some quick matches.

"I can rest tomorrow and get ready for the second week and try to play my best."

A regular in the top 10 prior to right knee problems that have troubled him for much of the last year, Simon appeared, on paper at least, a tricky opponent.

But the meeting proved straightforward enough for Murray, who set the tone for the evening by serving an ace on the first point before breaking his opponent to love as the 25-year-old Frenchman struggled to find his length.

Simon finally got on the board in the fourth game, although not before Murray had left him helpless at the net as a perfect lob spun over his head.

Confidence

The confidence Murray had shown in his earlier wins against Jan Hajek and Jarkko Nieminen was again to the fore and he broke once more in the sixth game.

He found himself 0-30 down in the following game but recovered to take the set with a trademark drop shot.

That this was not going to be Simon's day became more apparent in the opening game of the second set when a shot from Murray dribbled over the net to give him three break points.

He only needed one thanks to another error from the Frenchman.

Simon was pushing his opponent more than he had in the first set but having got himself into a point, he was too often guilty of planting the killer shot in the net.

The 25-year-old gained a walkover in the second round and there was plenty of evidence on Saturday that what he really needed was match time.

He came through a lengthy game to make it 4-3, and soon held in much more convincing fashion to force Murray to serve out the set.

That proved no problem for the world number four though, with Murray taking it to love.

Simon had looked set to drop his serve in the first game of a set for the third straight time but having gone 0-30, he battled back to hold.

His groundstrokes by now looked solid, but so did Murray's with the latter also creating extra variety.

Simon saved one break point with a searing forehand and a second with a big serve before finally holding to lead 3-2.

But Murray piled on more pressure, with a running forehand pass taking him to 15-30 - although the Frenchman was unlucky to lose his footing.

Murray then squandered two break points before finally seizing his chance, on his sixth break point of the set, to win the game that would leave him serving for the match.

It began well when a successful challenge gave him an ace on the first point, and from there his passage into week two was secure.

Murray faces Querrey on Monday, the big-serving American reaching the fourth round with a 6-7 (4/7) 6-4 6-2 5-7 9-7 victory over Belgium's Xavier Malisse as the light faded.