Andy Murray vs. Jeremy Chardy: Score and Reaction from 2015 French Open
Andy Murray progressed to the quarter-finals of the 2015 French Open with a battling four-set victory over Jeremy Chardy on Monday, beating the home favourite 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. In doing so, he set up a final-eight challenge against David Ferrer.
Chardy showed flashes of nerves in the opening exchanges, but he offered quality resistance throughout the first set. He wasn't afraid to hit hard to try and put Murray under pressure, and his risky approach had the Brit in genuine trouble until order was restored from the third set onward.
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Unforced errors continually prevented Chardy from pushing Murray for the duration, as he posted 56 compared to Murray's 26 throughout the match, per the tournament's official website.
This was underlined when a rushed shot beyond the baseline set Murray up with two set points in the opening stanza. Another mistake saw Murray land the first set in under 40 minutes and, in truth, without much hassle.
Roland Garros' official Twitter account highlighted the Brit's efficiency:
The opening game of the second set progressed to deuce No. 9 before Chardy took the lead. Murray got himself level before missing two break points, but Chardy was gaining momentum. The Frenchman beautifully stroked home a backhand winner to break for a 3-1 advantage, gaining palpable encouragement from the crowd in the process.
At 5-3 in Chardy's favour, he missed the first of two set points before Murray hit wide to level the overall score, as tweeted by the tournament's official account:
It was blow for blow at that point, with Chardy breaking in the first game of the third set, followed by Murray instantly leveling. Chardy's onslaught slowed, allowing Murray to regain his rhythm by holding serve with solid, composed play.
A double-fault from Chardy then provided Murray with the break point needed to take a 5-3 advantage. Chardy missed a straightforward volley to lead his opponent to set point, but Murray posted his first double-fault of the tie to enter deuce. Moments later, Chardy failed to stop play from Murray's wide serve and eventually lost the set when he was unable to reach a thunderous shot toward the baseline.
Roland Garros provided a moody shot of Murray after he re-established the lead:
Chardy was the first to blink in the fourth. He hammered a shot into the top of the net to allow Murray a 2-1 break, much to the disappointment of many in the stadium. Murray ruthlessly pushed on to enjoy a 4-1 lead, hushing the crowd with a variation of powerful shots to leave Chardy out of ideas.
While the Frenchman regained a break to make it 4-2, he missed three excellent opportunities in the next game to all but end his chances of moving on. Murray served for the match, stroking a calm shot down the centre of the court to complete the win.
Chardy can be pleased with his performance for the most part, but in the end, he didn't have the consistency to seriously trouble Murray. The victor discussed his performance with a courtside reporter, per ESPN.com.
"I felt like [I] played a good match, I needed to play well to win today," said Murray. "It gets tougher every match. I play against Ferrer, someone I haven't won against before on clay and who has beaten me at the French Open before (in 2012). I'll have to play great tennis because he's a fantastic player."
The crowd did their best to disrupt Murray's focus in the important moments—the Scot shouted out in anger on a couple of occasions—but he capitalised on his opponent's constant mistakes to progress.
Murray moves on to face Ferrer, a man who worked his way beyond Marin Cilic in three sets earlier in the day.
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