ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- Defending champion Andy Murray beat Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 6-2 Thursday to advance to the quarter-finals 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 quarter-final. 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 break point 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 advanced to his 10th quarter-final this season. "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, will next play Janko Tipsarevic, who beat 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 against the 150th-ranked Golubev. In the quarter-finals, Golubev will face German qualifier Mischa Zverev, who upset fourth-seeded Mikhail Youzny of Russia 7-5, 6-4. Victor Hanescu of Romania beat Kazakh qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 7-6 (7).
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