IF Jeremy Chardy was annoyed at Andy Murray before this match, he must be livid now.

The 28-year-old from Pau had admitted pre-match to feeling rather peeved by the Scot's decision to withdraw from the Rome Masters due to tiredness a fortnight ago, just hours after he had defeated him in straight sets, and the World No 3 again showed him scant courtesy when ending his best run at his home Grand Slam for years.

The eventual 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 score looks straightforward, but that impression somewhat disguises what, for a while at least, was a taut contest. The man from Pau near the Pyrenees was playing with enough purpose and gumption to suggest he was undaunted about the prospect of scaling the mountain which is required to remove the World No 3 from a major competition these days.

Having levelled matters at one-set all, the big-hitting Frenchman was a break to the good in the third set, the Suzanne Lenglen court at Roland Garros sensing that same whiff of Parisian revolution that had once done for Marie-Antoinette. But even if the guillotine may briefly have been hovering, Andy kept his head.

Sheer force of will saw him through a scrappy third set, and he was both solid and spectacular during the fourth. The victory stretches the Scot's streak against home players in their slams to 12 and meant he has now won his last 23 matches against French players in the majors. His 17th consecutive Grand Slam quarter final will come against David Ferrer, the Spaniard who he has never beaten on clay. But then, like a fine French wine, Murray is maturing with age.

As predicted, the crowd was into it from the start, a handful of saltires and lion rampants comprising a small but noticeable Tartan Army in the away end. The Auld Alliance, however, was temporarily suspended. Regardless of the presence of Amelie Mauresmo in Murray's coaches' box, they were solidly behind the World No 45.

Chardy had previously been as high as 25, and working with Magnus Tideman, there are signs of him recapturing his best form. On yesterday's evidence, though, there is just one thing holding him back. He is, if you excuse the phrase, a useless tosser. Time after time, even amid on-court conditions which were noticeably less windy than than they had been the last few days, his high ball toss was malfunctioning so badly that at times he was lucky to get a racket on the ball, let alone propel it over the net and into court. Consequently, he would serve 10 double faults in the course of the match, with two of them causing him to surrender his serve in it's very opening game.

A cute forehand winner on the run saw Chardy break back immediately as the Frenchman played his way into the match. But he was erratic when dragged into the net, and it was a confused shot, a slice backhand which flew into the tramlines, which saw the World No 3 capitalise on the last of the three break points to re-establish his advantage for 3-2.

At moments during that first set, in which the Scot obliged his opponent with just two unforced errors, and was getting 72% of his first serves in play, you wouldn't have guessed this would be the dogfight it later became. One sweet cross court volley had even the home supporters murmuring their approval.

Chardy was reeling at the start of the second set, five break points being forced in his first two service games with the Scot unable to take any. He, on the other hand, had the temerity to claim his first and only one in the set, during its fourth game, and - with momentum on his side - took it 6-3.

The sun, which had been dancing in and out of the clouds, finally came out, just in time to see the Frenchman's 100% record on break points continue in the opening game of the third set and suddenly the World No 3 was facing his first serious sweat of the tournament, the crowd chanting Jer-em-y with only one wag changing the words to Am-el-ie. The Scot was finding respite on the occasions when a bottleneck of spectators trying to get in or out caused a hold-up in play.

This was now a battle on the Terre Battue - there were more broken strings than a Jimi Hendrix concert - but it was the Scot who found the knockout punches. After exhortations like 'What are you doing?' or 'Come on, get yourself going', Murray broke back immediately, before a double fault on break point gave him a third set lead at 5-3. Even as the Scot served for it, the Frenchman felt he might have had a break back point, some premature celebration from the Lenglen crowd thwarted by some inspired Scottish defensive scurrying. The set was secured with an aggrieved Chardy pointing at the clay in a belated attempt to persuade the world that the Scot's serve had been out.

The fourth set was lively - considering you the manner in which the Frenchman's will had just been trampled upon. The Scot had to save a break point in the second game of the set, and did ultimately find his service broken, but the Chardy delivery would be breached three times itself. When one last forehand wrongfooted his opponent the Scot had secured his passage into his fifth Roland Garros quarter final. The going had just got tough. But the tough had just got going.