Andy Murray breezed past Italy's Fabio Fognini to reach his first-ever quarter final on clay at the Monte Carlo Masters.

Murray, leading 1-0 and by a set against his opponent ranked 108th in the world before rain stopped play yesterday, was sluggish early on but kicked into gear to race to victory.

The 21-year-old will not be able to put his feet up for long, however, as yesterday's rain delays means his last eight match against either David Nalbandian or Nikolay Davydenko will take place later today.

The fiery Scot lost the first three games of the morning as Fognini capitalised on Murray's evident lack of concentration.

But at 3-1 down, Murray regained his composure to take the next three games and move into a 4-3 lead as errors crept into Fognini's game.

The Italian levelled proceedings at 4-4, but Murray dominated his next service game before a number of basic errors from Fognini handed Murray a place in the last eight.