Andy Murray Defeats Karen Khachanov at 2017 French Open

World No. 1 Andy Murray reached a fourth consecutive French Open quarter-final as he defeated talented Russian 21-year-old Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in the fourth round at Roland Garros on Monday. 

The youngster matched Murray blow for blow early on, but the top seed's experience came through in the opener as he picked up the vital break he needed to take the first set.

Murray's almost error-free tennis then saw him win the second and third sets with relative ease while dropping just two service games to secure himself a spot in the last eight in Paris at the 2017 French Open.

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It was an impressive performance from the Scotsman against hard-hitting Khachanov, and gave an indication that Murray is nearing his best form again after a tricky first half of 2017.

World No. 53 Khachanov looked as though he might cause Murray some trouble early on with his formidable groundstrokes and powerful serve.

However, he could hardly have asked for a tougher opponent to face in his first Grand Slam last-16 clash, and Murray's class showed through when he forced a break for 4-2 in the first set, Khachanov going wide after being pushed hard by his opponent.

The top seed saw out the set and then claimed the advantage early on with another break for 2-1.

Impressively, Khachanov took full advantage of Murray's first moments of sloppiness to break back and regain parity at 3-3, but the three-time Grand Slam winner claimed his edge back immediately, per Eurosport UK:

He collected numerous free points with some clinical serving, and his lack of unforced errors was a key reason for his dominance as he went two sets ahead.

In the opening two sets Khachanov hit more winners than Murray, but also had 28 unforced errors compared to the 30-year-old's eight.

The Russian youngster was then down early again as he was broken in the first game of the third set, but drew level out of nowhere at 4-4 when some rare Murray errors surfaced.

However, as with the second set, Murray broke back immediately to leave himself serving for the match, and he made no mistake in wrapping up the victory in just over two hours. 

Murray will now face either Fernando Verdasco or Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals as he continues his bid to win a maiden French Open title.