Murray advances, Safin upset in St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) -Defending champion Andy Murray beat Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 6-2 Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the St. Petersburg Open, while eighth-seeded Marat Safin was beaten in a second-round upset.

Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan beat Safin 6-4, 6-2 to advance to his first career quarterfinal.

Murray, fresh from winning the Madrid Masters on Sunday for his fourth title this season, won his first three games to love before saving a breakpoint in the next game that he served.

The fourth-ranked Briton broke Gulbis in the eighth game for a 5-3 lead but the Latvian broke back to love in the next game. Murray immediately broke again to take the set, and won four consecutive games in the second set to close out the match.

"He (Gulbis) is very unpredictable in his game style," Murray said. "He had a couple of good shots to break me, but I broke him in the next game, so it wasn't a problem."

It was the ninth consecutive win for the U.S. Open finalist, including two victories in Britain's Davis Cup World Group playoffs against Austria in September. Murray's win-loss record this season is 50-14, becoming the fifth player this year to win 50 matches.

Murray has made it into his 10th quarterfinal this season and became only the fifth player this year to win 50 matches.

"I'm going to try my best to win the tournament," Murray said. "When you keep winning, it gives you a lot of confidence."

Murray, who also won titles in Doha, Marseille and Cincinnati, plays his 10th quarterfinal this season against Janko Tipsarevic.

The Serb advanced to his fourth quarterfinal this season, beating Jeremy Chardy of France 6-4, 7-6 (3).

Safin, the 31st-ranked Russian who has twice won the tournament, had trouble on his serve, winning only 15 of 51 returned points.

The 150th-ranked Golubev, who reached the second round of the U.S. Open in September, broke Safin in the fifth game of the first set but double-faulted three times in the next game to drop serve and stay level at 3-3.

In the ninth game, Safin saved three break points with aces but was broken on the third deuce and Golubev served for the set.