Murray proving to be a man in a hurry

TENNIS WIMBLEDON CHAMPIONSHIPS:THE 1950s advertising jingle suggested you must never hurry a Murray. Scottish player and number four seed, Andy won't be adopting the slogan on the basis of recent performances at the All England club.

For the second match in succession he accelerated through a challenge that on paper looked a tough remit. Murray led the head-to-head meetings with Marin Cilic 5-1 but most have been close-fought affairs.

Cilic, won the tournament at the Queen’s Club last week, underlining good form lines but Murray processed his opponent in jig time, 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 in this rain-affected two-day tussle.

There were a number of extenuating circumstances that undoubtedly affected the nature of the contest, principally the marathon match that the 6’6” big-serving Croatian endured in the previous round, beating American Sam Querry 17-15 in the fifth set in the second longest match in Wimbledon history.

When this fourth-round contest started on Monday, the Croat looked a little leg weary, his timing and movement off kilter, and it allowed Murray, who was only marginally sharper in a match festooned with mistakes, to establish a buffer on the scoreboard.

The Scot was up a set, a break and 40-0, with the prospect of going 4-1 in the second if he secured the next point. He did and soon after the set; albeit with rain delays forcing the players off court. Murray conceded that in the past he found those interruptions an irritant and a distraction.

He explained: “Yeah, it’s tough. In matches you can build momentum and build leads, and then when you stop, once you come back out again, you feel like you’re starting off from square one. But I did well today.

“He started the third set well. He had a few chances. I came up with some big serves and served very well in the third set especially. It’s never easy. There were three or four stops .”

Murray, a Goal patron, may have found Cilic in charitable mood on the Monday but the Croat was in more resolute form yesterday and offered a better representation of his talent. Unfortunately he collided with a brilliant display of serving from his opponent, underpinned by 10 aces in the final set. Cilic couldn’t get within hailing distance of a break point.

The Scot closed out the match with his now familiar clenched fist gesture to his entourage, that included coach Ivan Lendl, followed by pointing both index fingers skyward, a motion that he’s adopted for the tournament. He’s refused to divulge why, much to the chagrin of the media.

His opponent in the quarter-finals is number seven seed David Ferrer who accounted for Argentine Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 on foot of a hugely-impressive display. The Spaniard beat Murray in the quarter-final of the recent French Open at Roland Garros, bringing to an end a steak of five consecutive semi-final or better appearances at Grand Slams for the Scot.

Their personalised contests stand at a symmetrical 5-5.

The 30-year-old Ferrer has already won four titles this season including a grass court tournament in the Netherlands last week so it’s understandable Murray dismissed a lazy assertion that his opponent is a clay court specialist. He pointed out: “He’s a clay court specialist? No, he’s not. To me he’s not a clay court specialist.

“He won last week on grass, so he’s won, what, eight matches in a row on the grass. He’s been in the semi-finals of Australia, I think semi-finals of US Open, as well, and now he’s starting to play better on grass.”

Ferrer emphatically eclipsed anything ninth-seed Del Potro could muster in a game that the Spaniard described afterwards as one of the best he’s played on grass. His Argentine opponent is the only player, outside of the triumvirate of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, to have triumphed in the last 29 Grand Slams; he won the 2009 US Open.

Del Potro never broached that calibre of tennis on Centre Court and was summarily dismissed. Ferrer will return to the same court today and he’s in a minority of perhaps one in hoping that the inclement weather persists in the SW19 postcode of London at least, as he expressed a preference for playing with the roof closed.

He feels very much the underdog. “I think every match is different,” he said in response to beating Murray in Paris, pointing out the difference in surface. “It’s very difficult to beat Andy on all surfaces, but on a grass court it is more difficult.

“He’s favourite because he’s better than me; I will try to do my best. I will have to play my best tennis to beat him.”

The Spaniard will present a different test for Murray. In the last two rounds he’s faced big servers who aren’t nearly as athletic as Ferrer; he makes his opponents earn their points. The Scot will have an advantage, power-wise in his serve, something of which he’s conscious.

“The speed of my first serve is probably a bit bigger than his. But in all matches on the grass courts, you want to try and win free points from your serve if possible. If I serve like I did in the end of the second set and the third set today, it doesn’t matter how well someone’s returning: because if you hit a serve close to the line on grass, you can’t get there.”

It sounds like he plans to be in a hurry again.