Simon no challenge for No. 3 Murray

No. 3 Andy Murray faces unseeded Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in the quarterfinals Wednesday.

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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Five months after he ended a 76-year drought for British men in Grand Slam tournaments with a win at the U.S. Open, Andy Murray is into the quarterfinals at the Australian Open and on track to make it two in a row.

The third-seeded Murray easily beat Gilles Simon of France 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 on Monday for his fourth straight-sets win in a row. He will play unseeded Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in the quarterfinals.

Simon, coming off a tough five-set win over fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils, clearly wasn't in any shape to challenge Murray.

"After the first few games, I mean, it didn't feel like that competitive," Murray said. "Sort of at this stage of a Grand Slam you're sort of gee'd up and prepared for a tough battle. That's why it becomes hard because the emotions aren't quite into it."

Simon said facing Murray was "a painful hour and a half on the court.''

"It is difficult when you run a marathon two days before to run another one two days after,'' Simon said.

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