Murray has been in remarkable form after triumphs at Wimbledon and the Rio Olympics and is now eyeing a fourth straight major final appearance in the same season and will face Kei Nishikori in the last eight as he continues his quest for a second US Open crown. To top it all, he did not have to labour much for victory.
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Even in the world’s largest and noisiest tennis arena, it spoke volumes about the way Murray is feeling after a summer in which he has swept all before him.
As the first set of balls in a tennis match are used for the warm-up and the initial seven games, the 141 miles per hour blow at 5-1 would have been the last point this batch were in use before they were changed. Unfortunately, Murray related with just a wisp of a smile, they said afterwards the radar gun was broken and they took it apart to fix it. Murray, of course, just went back to work.
Before the match, world number 24 Dimitrov had spoken of how he had fallen back in love with the sport and the 2014 Aegon Championships victor had been displaying some of the form that has brought him victory in big matches against Murray in the past. What stood out in his whirlwind victory against Dimitrov was the strength and consistency of his serve, which had been nearly anaemic in the first two sets against Lorenzi.
He did, with a break, but Murray broke back instantly, prompting his opponent to attempt his most ambitious shot of the night – a flying right-foot volley, kicked through the air in frustration.
Murray has reached the final of every Grand Slam tournament this year and will next face Nishikori, a man he has beaten in seven of their eight matches.
A rematch with the man he defeated in the final, a resurgent Juan Martin del Potro, could provide a fitting climax to the Argentina tie.
Leon Smith, the Great Britain captain, must cut his team from five to four by the draw next Thursday but could include both Evans and Edmund if Andy Murray is keen once again to play doubles with brother Jamie. “He beat me this year at Wimbledon”. Murray said he got a “little lucky” with that one, and didn’t expect to do it again. Hopefully, I come out laughing this time around.
The world No2 is determined to stay at that level in the quarter-final against Kei Nishikori on Wednesday.
Murray was a class above against fellow seed Grigor Dimitrov, cruising to a 6-1 6-2 6-2 victory at Arthur Ashe Stadium in NY.
“Oh wow, it is really exciting, this is where it all started so it is always so magical out here for me but 308 sounds pretty good”, Serena said after moving a step closer to a record seventh US Open title. If Venus had this match and also the quarters, she would have had a showdown with her younger sister. The other one was here at the US Open, 138.
Sania is the sole Indian left in the tournament after Rohana Bopanna and Leander Paes exited the competition.
Bopanna and Dabrowski squandered a set advantage to lose a contest that lasted 58 minutes.
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Earlier in the day, Bopanna and his partner Gabriela Dabrowski fought hard before losing their mixed doubles quarterfinals against Canadian Robert Farah and Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany 6-1, 2-6, 8-10.
