Andy Murray has advanced to the quarter-finals in Monte Carlo after an injury forced third round opponent Julien Benneteau to retire.
Benneteau forced to retire with third round match in the balance
Andy Murray has advanced to the quarter-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters after an injury forced opponent Julien Benneteau to retire at the closing stages of the first set.
With the match evenly-poised at 5-5, unseeded Frenchman Benneteau fell awkwardly when chasing a wide ball and suffered injuries to both his right ankle and wrist.
After a lengthy time out for treatment, Benneteau battled on for two further points before throwing in the towel at 5-6.
Murray, who was broken during a competitive 10 games against the world No.31, will next play sixth seed Tomas Berdych for a place in the last four after the Czech came from behind to beat Kei Nishikori.
Pressure
Murray, fresh from a rapid straight-sets victory over Viktor Troicki in the previous round, picked up where he left off on Thursday morning by putting the Benneteau serve under immediate pressure, opening up three break points and taking the third to move 2-0 ahead.
But the Frenchman hit back superbly in Murray's next service game, which lasted almost 12 minutes, breaking at the fifth attempt when the Scot sprayed a forehand wide.
With Murray again struggling to hold at 30-30 in game five, the Brit played six shots with a broken string to somehow win the point before holding for a 3-2 lead.
A welcome love hold for Murray in the seventh game kept the Scot in front but the third seed was by no means having it all his own way in what was his first clay court meeting with Benneteau.
The 30-year-old Frenchman survived a couple of nervy visits to deuce when serving to stay in the set at 4-5, however an abrupt end to proceedings was to come when the Frenchman fell awkwardly in the 11th game.
A relatively fresh Murray will take on Berdych in the last eight on Friday after the Czech, currently ranked No.7 in the world, overcame Japan's Nishikori 2-6 6-2 6-4.
Nishikori only lost two points on his serve in the first set and broke Berdych twice, but he could not maintain his level as the 2010 Wimbledon finalist roared back in style.
