Dimitrov committed 43 unforced errors as Murray set up a last-eight clash with Japanese sixth seed Kei Nishikori, the 2014 runner-up who downed 37-year-old Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).
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Davis Cup captain Leon Smith will be particularly interested in Murray’s energy levels ahead of Great Britain’s semi-final against Argentina next week, but he believes the world number two can outlast his rivals in NY.
But Murray was imperious – hitting a career-best 141mph bullet to win the first set, while he allowed his opponent just four service holds.
“I served one at 145mph in San Jose once but the next day they recalibrated the gun because it was completely wrong”, he said. I think that the other fastest serve was here at the US Open around 138 maybe, but I’ve never hit over 140. I don’t expect to do it again. He said, “Grigor played his best but I didn’t really give him a chance to get into the match. Got a lot of free points with my serve and that was important”. For sure I was a little bit overwhelmed to get out there, you know, playing that prime time match.
Murray now faces world No 7 Kei Nishikori for a place in the semi-final.
“I played a really good match against him when we played a few weeks ago”.
The Swiss needed a tiebreak fourth set to advance. Late in the first set Monday, it started getting worse.
But with Federer sidelined from the US Open and with Dimitrov and Sharapova no longer the sport’s golden couple, the 25-year-old Bulgarian is enjoying having the spotlight lifted from him.
Angelique Kerber took another step towards becoming world number one as she sailed past Roberta Vinci to reach the US Open semi-finals. “It’s not only because I’ve been winning matches or anything like that”. “It’s an unbelievable court to play on and a fantastic atmosphere all the time”.
The second-ranked Murray could face resurgent Juan Martin del Potro in the best-of-five series at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland, from September 16-18.
Wawrinka had to save match point against Britain’s Dan Evans in round three but he had few problems beating Marchenko, ranked 63rd in the world.
The Bulgarian was no match for the Scot, who dropped only five games as he recorded a 6-1 6-2 6-2 victory in stunning style.
Seven of their last eight meetings have involved tie breaks, so [1.7] about their being one again today looks good, as does the over 36.5 games at [2.0], with eight of their last 10 sets against each other going to a minimum of 10 games.
After a lacklustre display in his previous round at Flushing Meadows, Murray insisted he would have to improve to overcome an in-form Dimitrov and he certainly kept his promise. He beat Novak (Djokovic) here. When you don’t play your best and win, it’s a really positive thing.
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“I was close to retired before my third surgery, but after that I always believe in myself to come back in tennis”, Del Potro said.
