Murray easily masters erratic Cilic

The court here at this week's Paris Masters is reckoned to be the fastest indoor surface on the men's circuit this year. It might not suit some players, but Andy Murray is relishing the challenge it presents and booked his place in the quarter-finals last night with a 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Marin Cilic.

Although he did not play as well as he had in beating David Nalbandian the previous day, Murray adopted serve-and-volley tactics to good effect. The world No 4 served well, hit 11 aces and volleyed with confidence. He was helped, never the less, by an erratic display from Cilic, who has had a poor second half of the year. The 22-year-old Croatian's forehand has been a killer weapon in the past, but at vital points of this match the stroke fell apart.

The only blot on Murray's performance was a code violation he was given after dropping serve in the fifth game. After putting a forehand long on break point the Scot hit a ball into the net just as a ball boy was running across. It narrowly missed the boy, but the crowd booed and the umpire gave Murray an official warning. In a similar incident 15 years ago Tim Henman became the first player ever to be thrown out of Wimbledon after smashing away a ball that struck a ball girl on the head.

"I probably shouldn't have done it but it wasn't anything major," Murray said afterwards. "I wasn't hitting the ball at 100mph, I was just hitting the ball to try and show what I should have done. It's the first time something like that has ever happened to me, but I apologised. It wasn't intentional and I'll move on from it."

Having made that first break, Cilic held his serve from 0-40 down in the next game and served for the first set at 5-4, only to lose the game with four loose shots. Murray, who said the wrist he had hurt the previous day had not caused him any problems, won the tie-break 8-6 after Cilic blew a 4-0 lead with another series of forehand errors.

The world No 15 responded well in the second set, making the only break of serve in the sixth game, but Murray won the decider after capitalising on some more mad moments by his opponent. Serving at 1-2 and 0-30, Cilic hit a wild forehand beyond the baseline and then handed Murray the decisive break with a double fault.

Today Murray will hope to extend his remarkable run of 27 consecutive victories over French opponents when he takes on Gaël Monfils, who thrilled his home crowd with a 6-7, 7-6, 7-5 victory over Fernando Verdasco after saving two match points at 4-5 in the deciding set.

Verdasco needed to reach the final to keep alive his hopes of playing in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, which start in London in nine days' time. His defeat meant that Andy Roddick, Tomas Berdych and David Ferrer were confirmed as the last three qualifiers for the elite eight-man event. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Murray and Robin Soderling had already booked their places at the O2 Arena.

Roddick, who has now qualified for the season's finale for the last eight years in succession, brushed aside Ernests Gulbis to earn a quarter-final against Soderling, while Federer will face Jurgen Melzer after a comfortable victory over Radek Stepanek.

The day's biggest loser was Djokovic, the defending champion, who was beaten 7-6, 6-2 by France's Michael Llodra. The two men are likely to meet again in next month's Davis Cup final. Djokovic said Llodra had played superbly but insisted that conditions in Belgrade, where the playing surface will be much slower, would be more favourable for the Serbs than they are here.