ATP Paris Masters: Andy Murray beats Julien Benneteau to close on World Tour Finals spot

A resurgent Andy Murray was in exceptional form as he dispatched French hope Julien Benneteau 6-3 6-4 to breeze into the third round of the ATP Paris Masters.

The two-time Grand Slam champion is playing for a sixth straight week and requires one more win in Bercy to guarantee his place at next month's ATP World Tour Finals at London's O2 Arena.

You want to try and enjoy it and be happy about it, so if I get there I will be very pleased because I've worked hard the last few weeks and it's been tough. I've won some very hard matches so hopefully I will get there.

Just three days after outlasting Spaniard Tommy Robredo in the longest final of the year in the Valencia Open final, the Scot came out like a man on a mission in his latest match against a nervy Benneteau.

Murray was playing stress-free tennis and won the opening set thanks to a single break of serve.

With the Briton now oozing confidence he broke twice in the second to lead 4-1, and despite a brief fightback from the Frenchman, Murray closed it out 71 minutes to secure win number 19 from his last 21 matches.

Murray will next face ninth seed Grigor Dimitrov, who beat him at WImbledon this year, and if he wins that match he will be guaranteed a spot at the O2.

Moment

After his win Murray revealed that he will 'enjoy' the moment should he win his next match in Paris.

"It won't be a relief, I will enjoy it," he told Sky Sports 3. "It's important to enjoy moments like that. If all you get from playing tennis is relief all of the time then that's not a nice emotion to feel when you achieve something.

Live ATP Masters Tennis

"You want to try and enjoy it and be happy about it, so if I get there, I will be very pleased because I've worked hard the last few weeks and it's been tough. I've won some very hard matches so hopefully I will get there."

Murray, who has won the Shenzhen Open, Vienna Open and Valencia in the past five weeks, is also bidding to finish the season in the top four and gain a better draw at the 2015 Grand Slams.

"I'm quite far from number four but even getting into London was be nice or finishing in the top eight would be good, but if I finish in the top four or five players in the world then I think that would be a very good effort because it's been a tough year.

"I've had a lot of questions asked about me about my back and whether I still had the motivation to keep fighting and pushing.

"If I were to finish as number four in the world then I think that would be a good year because someone like (Stan) Wawrinka, everyone has said that he's had a great year, so if I can finish close to him then that would be a good effort."