MELBOURNE, Australia — Five months after he ended a 76-year drought for British men in Grand Slam tournaments with a win at the U.S. Open, Andy Murray is into the quarterfinals at the Australian Open and on track to make it two in a row.

The third-seeded Murray easily beat Gilles Simon of France 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 on Monday for his fourth straight-sets win in a row. He will play unseeded Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in the quarterfinals.

Simon, coming off a tough five-set win over fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils, clearly wasn’t in any shape to challenge Murray.

“After the first few games, I mean, it didn’t feel like that competitive,” Murray said. “Sort of at this stage of a Grand Slam you’re sort of gee’d up and prepared for a tough battle. That’s why it becomes hard because the emotions aren’t quite into it.”

Serena Williams had a similarly easy time advancing to the quarterfinals and a chance to win her third major in a row with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Maria Kirilenko. She’s still on course for a potential semifinal meeting with defending champion Victoria Azarenka, who advanced with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Elena Vesnina.

“I didn’t expect to come out and play so well tonight,” Williams said. “I was like `Wow!’ I saw I had 95 percent first serves in the first set. I said `Who is this girl?’ It’s not me usually.”

Williams has lost only one match since her first-round exit at the French Open last year. Since then, she has won Wimbledon, Olympic gold, the U.S. Open, the season-ending WTA championships and a Brisbane International title.