Andy Murray has still not given up on finishing in the world's top four by the end of the year.

The Scot yesterday swept aside Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the BNP Paribas Masters.

He needed just 71 minutes to book a last-16 match against Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov today in Paris and should he advance to the quarter-finals, his place at the O2 Arena will be secure.

The result continues Murray's remarkable end-of-season form a year after he underwent back surgery. Now a return to the top four in the world rankings before the end of the season is not out of the question.

Back-to-back wins in Vienna and Valencia have taken Murray back to No.8 in the world, having dropped in the rankings following back surgery.

And he went into Paris trailing fourth-placed Stan Wawrinka, US Open winner, by 1,090 points.

"If I was to do that it would be a great effort," he said. "I'm still quite far, I think, from No.4. Even getting into London would be nice. If I get there I'll be very pleased. I've worked hard last these few weeks and won some very tough matches.

"Top eight would be good, but if I can finish in the top five, top four players in the world it would be a good effort.

"I had a lot of questions asked about my back and about whether I had the motivation to keep pushing.

"If I can finish close to the top four - someone like Wawrinka's had a good year so if I can finish close to him it would be a good effort."

Roger Federer, meanwhile, kept up his hopes of finishing the year as world No.1 when he downed Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 7-6 (5) 6-7 (5) 6-4.

Bulgarian Dimitrov, who also has a chance to qualify for the season-ending tournament, destroyed Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas 6-0 6-3.

Third-seeded Wawrinka won for the first time in more than a month as he beat Austrian Dominic Thiem 6-4 7-6.