TOKYO: Defending champion Andy Murray overpowered Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko 6-1, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals of the Japan Open on Wednesday with all the panache of a grand slam winner.

The Olympic gold medalist, playing his first tournament since capturing his first grand slam title at last month’s US Open, completed the rout in just 56 minutes.

“I started the match almost perfect,” Murray told reporters after stretching his winning streak to nine matches and setting up a quarterfinal with Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka.

“I only lost a couple of points in the first four or five games,” added the Scot. “Once I got the break in the second set I started to play better.”

Murray mixed up his game to good effect against Lacko with the center court roof closed as rain from an approaching typhoon lashed Tokyo Bay.

An array of drop shots and sliced passing shots from mid-court left Lacko shaking his head in disbelief, Murray putting him out of his misery with a sweet drop volley.

Murray, who reached the final of this year’s Wimbledon before exacting revenge on Wawrinka’s buddy Roger Federer in the Olympic final in London, is not counting his chickens yet.

“He is playing very well just now,” Murray said of the seventh-seeded Wawrinka. “I think hard courts are a good surface for him. I expect another tough match.”

Wawrinka blew three match points in the second set tiebreaker but came through to beat Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 7-6, 6-7, 7-5 in two hours, 37 minutes.

“It wasn’t easy having (wasted) three match points in the tiebreak,” said the 2008 Olympic doubles gold medalist, who served 19 aces.

“You need to be ready to still play the third set and to fight.”

Wawrinka praised Murray for breaking his grand slam duck after losing his first four major finals.

“He is playing great,” said the Swiss. “He won the Olympics, he won the US Open and he always plays great here. It’s going to be tough for sure.”

Late starters Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic and Argentine Juan Monaco won their first round matches yesterday.

Third seed Janko Tipsarevic, resplendent in a pair of bright orange goggles, beat France’s Gilles Simon 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 to avenge his loss in last week’s Bangkok semifinals.

Djokovic, Radwanska reach

China Open quarterfinals

In Beijing, two-time champion Novak Djokovic reached the China Open quarterfinals after dismissing Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 6-1, 6-3 yesterday.

Djokovic rushed through the first set then lost his serve twice in the second before winning the second-round match.

The Serb, champion in 2009 and 2010 in his only previous appearances in Beijing, faces Jurgen Melzer on Friday after the Austrian defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov 7-6 (9), 2-6, 6-1.

Florian Mayer of Germany also made the last eight.

Women’s defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska needed more than two hours to put away Spanish qualifier Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Radwanska, coming off a loss in the final of the Japan Open on Sunday, struggled in her first matchup against the Spaniard. Radwanska broke six times and lost her own serve seven times.

Second-ranked Maria Sharapova downed Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-2, 6-2, and Slovenian qualifier Polana Hercog rallied from 5-1 down in the third set to beat Ekaterina Makarova 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-6 (3).

Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic were knocked out of the third round in straight sets.

Ivanovic was ousted 6-4, 6-3 by Romina Oprandi of Switzerland, who replaced an ill Serena Williams in the draw.

Jankovic fell apart after leading 5-2, going out to Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 7-5, 6-4.

“Jelena is always difficult to play, but I played well,” Suarez Navarro said. “She always fights a lot, and I’m happy to have finished it off.”