There was a definite upset not far behind Murray, though, as No. 13 seed Milos Raonic took down No. 4 seed Stan Wawrinka.
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He broke the Spaniard again to claim the third set and went on to win 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 6-3 in three hours and 20 minutes and book a semi-final on Friday night.
Kim Sears is expecting a baby in February, and Murray has said on two occasions that he will fly home from the Australian Open, the year’s first Grand Slam, should she go into labor during the tournament.
Murray has lost all four finals he’s contested at the Australian Open, including last year’s championship match to Novak Djokovic.
Despite fraying emotions and pumped up tension, Andy Murray has successfully made it to the last eight of the Australian Open after shattering home hopes with a victory over Bernard Tomic.
Belarus’ Victoria Azarenka also continued her fine form, as the 14th seed defeated the Czech Republic’s Barbora Strycova 6-2, 6-4.
Azarenka will play No. 7-seed Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals after the German beat fellow countrywoman Annika Beck 6-4, 6-0.
Standing in Roanic’s way is laconic Frenchman Gael Monfils, who earlier on Monday posted a personal best at the Australian Open by reaching the quarter-finals.
“Tough match in general, for sure”, said Wawrinka. “Always been risky with his serve, with his game”, Wawrinka said.
“It’s (going to be) a great fight that I’m going to put out there with all my heart, all my effort, and hopefully I can make the most of the opportunity”.
Wawrinka managed to break Raonic’s potent serve in the second set, something that hadn’t been done in three previous rounds, but in what was perhaps a turning point, immediately dropped serve.
The stress was obvious Monday, when an agitated Murray yelled and berated himself repeatedly and had trouble dealing with Bernard Tomic’s unusual style before advancing to the quarterfinals with a scrappy 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (4) win.
Konta becomes the first British female player to reach the last eight of a grand slam in 32 years, when Jo Durie reached the quarter-final at Wimbledon.
“He s very entertaining and he s very hard to play”.
The only two unseeded players left in the tournament, Britain’s Johanna Konta and China’s Zhang Shuai, will battle it out in Wednesday’s second match at the Rod Laver Arena. “But I think both of us were a little bit up and down today”, said Murray, who added he was pleased with his serving, having struck 18 aces.
To her elation, it was a Broncos win. “All of those kind of things coming together, it’s just sort of cementing where I am with my game, which way I want to keep taking it”.
Raonic advanced to the quarter-finals after a thrilling five set victory against the 2014 Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka in his round-of-16 match.
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Raonic cruised to the first two sets, then watched as Wawrinka attempted to come back from two sets down for the seventh time in his career.
