Sizzling Murray powers on

Andy Murray racked up his 650th career win to reach the French Open quarterfinals on Monday where he was joined by 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka.

World number one Murray brushed aside Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

However, instead of discussing the match in the traditional on-court TV interview, Murray took the microphone to remember the 29 people who died in the recent outrages in London and Manchester.

"Obviously there was terrible tragedy in London and Manchester. Paris has had its problems too in recent years," said Murray. "I am sure everyone will join me... we share our thoughts and prayers with everyone who has been affected.”

Murray broke the serve of the 21-year-old Russian on five occasions. Before Monday, Khachanov had held serve for 48 successive service games.

In his seventh Paris quarterfinal, Murray will face Japanese eighth seed Kei Nishikori who defeated 33-year-old Fernando Verdasco of Spain 0-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-0.

Nishikori stunned Murray in five sets at the US Open last year although he insisted he had little memory of it.

Wawrinka, the third seed, booked a place in the quarterfinals for the fourth time with a comfortable 7-5, 7-6 (9/7), 6-2 win over Gael Monfils.

Marin Cilic completed the quarterfinal line-up when South Africa's Kevin Anderson retired with a thigh injury trailing 6-3, 3-0. He will take a 2-11 losing record against Wawrinka into his match with the Swiss star.

Seven of the top seeds have made the quarterfinals with Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta playing the role of gate-crasher having knocked out fifth seed Milos Raonic on Sunday.

Czech world number two Karolina Pliskova needed three sets to get past Paraguay's Veronica Cepede Royg.

The world number 97 had only won one match at the majors before this year's Roland Garros but she was the better player in the first set with Pliskova hitting just four winners. But the second seed steadied the ship to go through to the next round winning 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Pliskova next faces 28th seed Caroline Garcia who won her all-French grudge match with Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-4.

The two compatriots have been involved in a recent feud over the Fed Cup and are barely on speaking terms. However, they exchanged smiles and a warm embrace at the net at the end of the tie.

Title favourite and 2014 runner-up Simona Halep trounced Spain's Carla Suarez-Navarro 6-1, 6-1 to make the last eight without dropping a set or breaking sweat.


Bopanna-Gabriela score

Rohan Bopanna and his Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrowski stormed into the semifinals of the mixed doubles event with a straight-set upset win over the duo of Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig of Croatia. The Bopanna-Dabrowski pair defeated the second-seeded Sania-Dodig pair 6-3 6-4.

Results: Round 4 (Prefix denotes seeding): Men: 3-Stan Wawrinka (Sui) bt 15-Gael Monfils (Fra) 7-5, 7-6 (7); 7-Marin Cilic (Cro) bt Kevin Anderson (SA) 6-3, 3-0 (Anderson retired); 8-Kei Nishikori (Jpn) bt Fernando Verdasco (Esp) 0-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-0; 1-Andy Murray (Gbr) bt Karen Khachanov (Rus) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Women: 28- Carolina Garcia (France) bt Alize Cornet (France) 6-2, 6-4; 5-Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) bt Petra Martic (Croatia) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5; 3-Simona Halep (Rom) bt 21-Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) 6-1, 6-1.