Western & Southern Open: Andy Murray racks up win No 600 to move on from Olympic glory

Murray's 20th consecutive victory came against South Africa's Kevin Anderson in Cincinnati, less than a week after winning gold in Rio

Andy Murray beat Kevin Anderson in Cincinnati to claim his 600th career victory (Getty)

Andy Murray has recorded his 600th victory on the ATP Tour to reach the quarter-finals of the Western & Southern Open.

The Scot's 20th straight win of a remarkable season came against South Africa's Kevin Anderson in Cincinnati, where Murray is the top seed less than a week after winning Olympic gold in Rio.

After beating Anderson 6-3 6-2 in one hour and 30 minutes, Murray can look forward to facing world number 20 Bernard Tomic - the Australian was the surprise conqueror of fifth seed Kei Nishikori earlier on Thursday.

On reaching the 600-win milestone, Murray told atpworldtour.com: "It's cool that it happened in Cincinnati.

"I got a wild card here when I was 18. I also won my first Masters 1000 here, so it's a place that means a lot to me."

Anderson fired down seven aces but could not match counter-puncher Murray on his return-point percentages.

Speaking about the big hitter from Johannesburg, Murray added: "Kevin has had some tough injuries to deal with this year and is starting to sort of gradually get back to the level he was playing at last year. It takes time.

"For me, I'm coming off the best few months of my career, so it's slightly different circumstances."

Murray's quarter-final opponent Tomic, meanwhile, is yet to beat the Scot in four tour-level meetings.

"He had a good win today against Nishikori," Murray said. "He's a talented player. We've had some tough matches. He plays with a lot of variety."

PA