Murray races into Shanghai quarters

Andy Murray made short work of Alexandr Dolgopolov at the Shanghai Masters, advancing to the last eight in under an hour.

Third seed Murray was too strong for the quirky Ukrainian and wasted little time in winning 6-2 6-2.

Next up for the recently-crowned US Open champion is Radek Stepanek, who beat big-serving American John Isner 6-4 6-7 (5/7) 6-3.

Murray had a straightforward passage to round three with a first-round bye and his scheduled second-round opponent Florian Mayer withdrawing through injury. And the two-time defending champion in Shanghai had little trouble in disposing of Dolgopolov to advance to the quarter-finals.

Two breaks handed him the first set and three more followed in the second as he eased past a potentially tricky opponent.

Murray told Sky Sports 1: "When you play against him it is very important to play a solid match but also important to play with variety.

"Normally his game gives guys problems if you play the same ball over and over, when he is the one chipping balls, hitting some flat balls, coming to the net using the drop shot.

"I tried to use the slice a bit, some higher balls and some off-pace balls so he couldn't have the rhythm to play his normal game."

Dolgopolov is one of the better returners on the tour but Murray was broken just once in the contest.

He added: "I think I have started to use my serve a little bit better. In the past I have had a tendency to go for the big serve all the time to try to get some free points. I have started trusting my baseline game more and using slower serves and more variety and that has paid off."