LEAD: Murray battles monotony as injured opponent quits

By Bill Scott Jan 23, 2012, 5:27 GMT

Melbourne - Two-time finalist Andy Murray had to fight off boredom as he advanced to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Monday, a day when five-time winner Serena Williams was humbled 6-2, 6-3 by Russian Ekaterina Makarova.

Williams, who had won 41 of her previous 43 matches during a sporadic career at the event, was well off her game in brutal heat, committing 37 unforced errors.

Her horrors including four double-faults in a single game, followed by a racquet destruction.

Makarova, fighting off nerves, missed on three match points but benefited on her fourth as the error-prone Williams fired wide for one last time.

'It's an amazing feeling, my first time in a Grand Slam quarter-final,' said the 23-year-old winner. 'It's unbelievable. I don't know what to say.'

Murray barely had a contest as he faced injured Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin quit their match trailing 6-1, 6-1, 1-0 after 45 minutes.

The Scot started week two of the major where he has lost the last two finals by trying to keep himself alert against a 92nd-ranked opponent who was suffering with a left hip flexor injury.

'Today there was nothing. There was no atmosphere because there were no points,' Murray complained. 'It was just boring.

'It would have been nice to have come off and been like, 'I played unbelievable and he stopped.'

'Didn't have to do anything. Just hitting the ball in the court and he wasn't running. He was making mistakes the first or second ball of the rally. That was it.'

Kukushkin, coached by his wife, was suffering in both the 35 Celsius conditions and from his physical problem.

'Today it was so hot on court. It was good to get a quick win and conserve energy,' said Murray.

Kukushkin said he hurt himself in his last match against Gael Monfils. 'Warming up, I see I cannot play full today just because my left hip doesn't allow me to run, even to serve.

'I was only able to serve the second serve with the pain. Unfortunately, I was not able to show anything, to play, to compete, especially on this level.'

Murray's victory was his ninth in succession, with the Scot lifting title in five of his last eight tournament, including three in three weeks last autumn in Asia.

His losses came to Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals at the US Open, fell to Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals at Paris Bercy and withdrew from the World Tour Finals with a groin injury.

Women's second seed Petra Kvitova defeated former number one Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 7-6 (7-2), missing a smash at the net in a move which will certainly make the highlight reels.

The Czech Wimbledon winner dominated the Serb who lost the 2008 Melbourne final and then won the French Open four months later, the highlight of her a patchy career so far.

'It was tough match, definitely. I really struggled with the rhythm in the beginning,' said Ivanovic. 'I was lacking that in the first set and sort of in the second set.

'It was just really pity that I didn't use opportunities I had.'

Kvitova next plays Sara Errani after the Italian beat Zheng Jie 6-2, 6-1.