Murray in a hurry while Davis Cup hopefuls play for six hours

(EPA)

Andy Murray and his potential British team-mates limbered up for next week's Davis Cup tie against Ukraine in contrasting fashions yesterday. While Murray swept into the quarter-finals of the Dubai Championships here with a stylish 6-2, 6-3 victory over Arnaud Clément, four of the Britons in the play-offs at Roehampton to decide the final two places in the team to play in Glasgow were involved in marathon contests.

Chris Eaton followed up his victory on Monday over Alex Slabinsky by beating James Ward 6-3, 6-2, 6-7, 2-6, 21-19 in a match that lasted six hours and 40 minutes. Josh Goodall, the British No 3, is the only other man with two wins after beating Slabinsky in another epic 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.

Although it will not go into the record books as it was not in an official competition, the contest between Eaton and Ward took more time than the longest match in history. That involved Clément, who lost to Fabrice Santoro at the French Open in 2004 after six hours and 33 minutes.

Last night, however, Clément never looked capable of taking Murray the distance. The 31-year-old world No 73 beat him in their only two previous meetings, but the last was in 2006. Murray was still feeling some soreness in the ankle he injured a fortnight ago but you would not have guessed it. He served and returned well and moved around the court with impressive speed and elegance.

Clément saved three break points in the first game and was broken in the third and seventh as Murray went on the attack. The Scot briefly got into difficulty as he served at 3-2 but saved two break points in succession with aces. Clément was broken again in the third game of the second set and the match ended on the Frenchman's serve when Murray won two points in a row with big forehands.

"I served very well in comparison to my last match," Murray said. "I didn't give him many chances after my first couple of service games and I obviously managed to get into a lot of his service games." Tonight he plays another Frenchman, Richard Gasquet, who beat Italy's Simone Bolelli 6-7, 6-3, 7-6. It will be their first meeting since Murray's victory from two sets down at Wimbledon last year. At that time Gasquet was one place higher than Murray in the world rankings at No 10. Gasquet is now No 26 and Murray No 4.

Novak Djokovic, the world No 3, was a break down in the final set to Jan Hernych, the world No 66, but recovered to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. He now faces Marin Cilic, who, like Murray, has lost only once this year.