Murray sets up Simon clash

Andy Murray reached the quarter-finals of the Mexican Open with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Portugal’s Joao Sousa.

The seventh-ranked Murray needed three sets in the first round to beat Spaniard Pablo Andujar, but put in a more authoritative performance against Sousa and set up a clash with France’s Gilles Simon in the last-eight.

Top-seed David Ferrer beat Spanish compatriot Feliciano Lopez 7-6, 6-2 to advance to his fifth-straight Mexican Open quarter-final. Ferrer, trying to win his fourth title on Mexican soil, will next play South Africa’s Kevin Anderson, who eliminated American Sam Querrey 7-6, 6-4.

“I believe `Feli’ (Lopez) had several chances in the first set but didn’t take advantage of them,” Ferrer said. “It was a tough one for me because he*s a very smart player and knows my game.”

In other matches, Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov downed Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-4 and Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic defeated Dudi Sela of Israel 7-6, 6-2.

Women’s draw

On the women’s side of the combined ATP-WTA tournament, top-seeded Dominika Cibulkova reached the quarter-finals with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium.

Cibulkova has won her first matches on tour since her run to the Australian Open final and will next play Marina Erakovic of New Zealand, who defeated Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski 6-1, 6-4.

Also moved onto the next round were the second and third seeds, Eugenie Bouchard, from Canada, who defefeated Spaniard Lara Arruabarrena 7-5, 6-2 and Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi who ousted Germany’s Julia Goerges, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6.