After dropping a set in the third round to Paolo Lorenzi of Italy, Murray was at the top of his game, producing 28 winners, just 23 unforced errors, and hitting a personal-best 141 miles per hour serve. “I played very well today with very few unforced errors and made it very tough for Grigor”.
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“I served one at 145 in San Jose, but the next day”, Murray said with a smile, “they re-calibrated the gun because it was completely wrong”. I don’t think I made any mistakes there.
It was even harder to believe Dimitrov won the last time these two played, on a hard court no less, in Miami earlier this year. “I got a lot of free points with my serve tonight”, Murray said. “Obviously I’m very disappointed from the result”. Of course, it’s a great experience for me.
“Andy is the best player right now out there”, Dimitrov said. “He deserves all the credit today”.
It didn’t get much better from there. “The conditions do a lot for you to serve quick”.
“It’s been a little bit different this year with the roof and getting used to that”.
Murray, 29, stormed to an impressive seventh win in 10 meetings against the 22nd-seeded Dimitrov.
“I enjoy it in here”.
“The next round will be a tough match”. Kei’s been to the finals here before.
Elsewhere, Swiss star Stanislas Wawrinka saw off Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko 6-4 6-1 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 while Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro led Dominic Thiem 6-3 3-2 when the Austrian retired with a knee injury.
Del Potro will face fellow Grand Slam title victor Stan Wawrinka for a semi-final spot. The 2009 US Open champion is ranked No. 142, but will already climb back into the Top 65.
Del Potro is playing just his second Grand Slam event since the 2014 Australian Open. “He played some good stuff at the Olympics and won the bronze”. The seven-time Grand Slam champion said this would have been Dimitrov’s biggest win ever, and, considering the stakes, that he played a “horrible” first set full of poor decision-making. “Everything can happen. So I will try to be there”. No player left in the tournament has served faster here. Here is a different surface than Wimbledon, so my slices doesn’t go too well as I did in Wimbledon. I didn’t have any dip in concentration or my level. My serve is working good.
Next for the Argentine is a rematch with Stan Wawrinka.
“I played extremely well”. We play each other already this year at Wimbledon. The Scot beat the world No7 in five sets in the Davis Cup in March and beat him 6-1, 6-4 in the Olympic semi-finals.
Tomorrow, Novak Djokovic returns against Jo-Wilfred Tsonga.
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Williams will have a day off before tackling Simona Halep after the fifth-seeded Romanian’s 6-2, 7-5 victory over Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro. And in an all-French affair, Lucas Pouille will meet Gael Monfils.
