TENNIS/QATAR MASTERS: ANDY MURRAY needs only one more win to earn a likely meeting with Roger Federer tomorrow, a semi-final rematch which would bring further excited speculation about the Scot's steadily developing ability to become the first Briton in more than 70 years to win a grand slam title.
Right now Murray is dealing with bread-and-butter matches with a commendable lack of stress and conservation of energy - further ingredients necessary for surviving a seven-match, two-week ordeal in great heat at the Australian Open later this month.
Yesterday he did this with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Philipp Petzschner in the Qatar Open which took only 72 minutes and was achieved with his second dominating performance in a row. It underlined Murray's own view that not only does he approach matches with stronger focus now, but he maintains it for longer. Once ahead, he makes it desperately hard for opponents to get back into the match.
Petzschner, a 24-year-old German, has been moving steadily to within sight of the top 50 and mixes a clinging slice on the backhand with fierce flat hits on the forehand, but Murray contained all that.
The match perhaps turned on a tightly contested third game with Petzschner serving, which brought five deuces, lasted 11 minutes and ended with Murray making the first service break.
Even better was that Murray consolidated this break with such excellent serving that he dropped only seven points on his delivery throughout the match, leaving Petzschner with a growing realisation that any mistakes he might make would be costly.
This increasing pressure made it impossible for Petzschner to play at the level to which he is accustomed, causing him to fret and enabling Murray to talk afterwards in a new and unusual way. Suddenly and amusingly he was the savvy veteran instead of the unpredictably talkative rookie he recently was.
"If you can get ahead against guys that haven't had maybe as much experience as you," Murray began with just the hint of a thoughtful pause, before qualifying it with "in bigger tournaments or playing against higher-ranked players" and continuing: "You know, if you can get ahead and keep the momentum going, it's tough to get back in the match.
The progress of his first serve - the second could still do with a little bolstering - and the impressive strengthening of his mind are what really have distinguished Murray's advances so far in 2009. If he does play Federer again tomorrow it should be fascinating to see what impact these developments have. The Swiss lost to Murray three times out of four last year and will not want to lose to him again.
Federer, too, conserved energy taking just 79 minutes to defeat Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-3. However, he did not always strike the ball at his best in the falling night temperatures which were less conducive to fluency, and did no more than enough to get past the Italian.
Rafael Nadal reached the quarter-finals even more quickly. The Wimbledon, French Open and Olympic champion won 6-1, 6-2 in less than an hour against the Slovakian Karol Beck, bouncing around the court in such an uninhibited fashion that it was hard to believe that only the previous day he had become quite emotional about the prospect of having to play as many events in 2009 as last year, when his body broke down before the end.
"What can I do?" he asked, gesturing demonstratively, giving the impression that he thought the tour contained too many obligatory events.
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