Murray took just two hours to beat his opponent, winning 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, which saw him register 28 winners to 23 unforced winners. “But for both of us I think it’s going to be important to try to dictate and be aggressive on the court”, Del Potro said.
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On the second serve of the point being replayed, Murray hit his return into the middle of the net, a shot that didn’t even come close to clearing the net.
The Wimbledon champion has beaten world No7 Nishikori in seven of their last eight meetings, including a straight-sets win as part of his successful Olympic gold medal defence in Rio last month.
When Dimitrov served on break point in the first game of the third set he broke a string and by the time he was 4-0 down he was looking increasingly dispirited.
Also through are Stan Wawrinka and Juan Martin del Potro, who will face each other in the other quarter-final, after seeing off Illya Marchenko and Dominic Thiem respectively.
“If it has an impact on any of the other players in the tournament, I don’t know”. They have obviously delays and (delayed) matches aren’t good for TV and people that are watching. I played a really good match against him when we played a few weeks ago. “I don’t know if it’s been because of the Labor Day weekend, but it’s been much quieter”, Murray said.
Making it look easy: Andy Murray comfortably defeated Grigor Dimitrov.
Nishikori will meet either double grand slam victor Stan Wawrinka or 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro in the last four at Flushing Meadows.
Overcome him, and the Scot will face either two-time Grand Slam victor Stan Wawrinka or a rejuvenated Juan Martin del Potro. “I was able to play great tennis against Grigor”.
He arrived in NY on the back of seven consecutive tournament finals, including summer triumphs at Wimbledon and the Olympics, but insisted fatigue was not a factor.
Since the professional era started in 1968, only Djokovic (2015), Roger Federer (2004, 2006 and 2007) and Rod Laver (1969, when he completed a calendar-year Grand Slam) have been to a season’s four major title matches.
In an echo of Kyle Edmund’s defeat to Novak Djokovic the previous evening, Dimitrov appeared to be overwhelmed by playing a night match in the biggest stadium in tennis. When you don’t play your best and win, it’s a really positive thing.
Murray served out the first set with a 141mph ace – the fastest he’s hit in his career and simply refused to allow his rival to wriggle off the hook.
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“But this slam in particular I think for all of the players, especially the ones, that have done well over the summer period on the hard courts, it’s a tough one”.
