Murray keen to sprint through

Andy Murray has not dropped a set at Wimbledon so far
3 July 2013

Andy Murray is on target to take his shortest route yet into the Wimbledon semi-finals as he prepares for a challenge he has not faced all year.

The world number two meets Fernando Verdasco at the last-eight stage on Wednesday, and the Spaniard will be the first left-hander Murray has played in 2013. The Scot, who has never reached the final four without dropping a set, has a perfect record so far this fortnight.

Murray said: "You just try to win whichever way you can. Three sets is obviously better because you save some energy but at this stage of the tournament you just try to win as quickly as you can."

Murray has flown a little under the radar by his standards so far, overshadowed during the first week by injuries and upsets and then by the progress of Laura Robson. But Robson's exit on Monday means for the sixth year in a row it is Murray who carries home hopes into the last eight.

He rated the pressure on his shoulders at the moment as "seven or eight" out of 10, saying: "Playing at the latter stages of grand slams is what you play the game for, and that's where there's the most pressure, so it builds with each match.

"I think all the matches are going to keep getting tougher. Everyone is going to be more comfortable with the conditions than they are at the beginning of the week.

"You don't fluke getting into the quarter-finals of a slam. You need to win four tough matches to get there. So everyone is playing well now, and it's going to keep getting tougher."

Verdasco is ranked only 54th in the world but was in the top 10 for much of 2009 and 2010 and has beaten quality players to get to the last eight.

Murray put his head in his hands when told that one pundit, former British Davis Cup player Barry Cowan, suggested he would have been happy at the start of the tournament had he known he would be facing Verdasco at this stage.

"Verdasco is a very, very good tennis player," said Murray. "He's playing very well this week. He's extremely dangerous when he's on his game."

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