Murray reaches last eight at Indian Wells

By Eve Fodens

ANDY Murray ousted fourth seed Nicolay Davydenko from the Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells in California last night to reach the quarter-finals of a Masters Series event for the first time.

The 13th seed defeated his Russian opponent 7-6, 6-4 and will next meet the winner of the match between fifth seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile and ninth seeded German Tommy Haas in the last eight.

Murray, who finished off Davydenko with his tenth ace of the match, said his strong service game helped power him past the world No 4. The 19-year-old Scot did not have things all his own way, particularly in a tight first set, but emerged victorious after just over two hours on court.

"My serve got me through the match," Murray admitted. "I served quite a few aces and on the important points hit some big serves. I was a bit nervous at the end but managed to come through it."

Murray also said he needed to adjust to Stadium One. "It was quite windy. In the second set it calmed down a little bit. This court is a little bit slower I think than the other ones. It doesn't bounce quite as high as the outside courts and it took a little time getting used to it. I'm just happy with the way I adjusted. I didn't start too well, he's playing really well, but I managed to up my game in the important points."

Murray saved a set point serving at 4-5 in the first set, and both he and Davydenko lost their last service game before the tiebreak.

Davydenko succeeded with a player challenge on a line call for 3-3 in the tiebreak, but the British No 1 won the last four points to take the set, then broke the Russian in the first game of the second set. He held the break lead throughout, and saved the only break chance Davydenko had at 4-3.

Murray's win levelled up the head-to-head record between the two at 2-2, with the Scot having beaten Davydenko in straight sets in Doha earlier this year. Serbia's Novak Djokovic, the No 12 seed, joined his good friend Murray in the last eight after beating Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-1.

In the women's singles, China's Li Na reached the semis for the first time when she beat Russia's Vera Zvonareva 6-4, 7-5. Li rallied from 4-2 down in the first set and 5-2 behind in the second against Zvonareva, who had knocked out world No 1 and defending champion Maria Sharapova on Tuesday.