Andy Murray has won into the semi-finals of the Olympic Games tennis tournament at Wimbledon guaranteeing him a medal match in the men's singles event.
The British No.1 raced through his quarter-final, beating Spain's Nicolas Almagro 6-4, 6-1 in under an hour on Court 1, setting up a semi-final against Novak Djokovic.
"It was good" said the world No.4 afterwards, "I played solid on serve. In the second set he was struggling, he had a problem with his shoulder so it was much easier for me."
Murray went on: "It was good and important that I got off the singles court quickly. If it had been a long one that wouldn't have been great for tomorrow so getting off the court quickly was nice."
On playing 2011 Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic, Murray said: "It will be a great match. He's playing great tennis and he got a great win over Jo today. It'll be different [to Wimbledon] but the intensity will be there. I need to make it very tough for Novak. I hope I can serve like I did the last couple of days, that will help a lot."
After winning in front of strong home support Murray commented on wanting to keep the GB feel-good factor going: "From what I've seen the whole country's got into the Olympics which is great, it helps the athletes and gives us a sense of togetherness."
Later in the day Murray returned to Court 1 to play in the mixed doubles event alongside Laura Robson, where they took on Radek Stepanek & Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic.
The first round match proved to be a tense affair but it was the GB pair who came through in the end, beating Stepanek & Hradecka (CZE) 7-5, 6-7(7), 10-7.
Murray & Robson looked in control when up a set and a break but were reeled in by their Czech opponents, who saved a match point in the second set tie-break to take the match into a deciding set champions tie-break.
The British duo looked to be in trouble at 2-5 down but won eight of the next ten points to turn the decider around and book a quarter-final against Australia's Hewitt & Stosur.
"You don't get the chance to do this often," said Murray afterwards. "For a mixed doubles match the atmosphere was something else. I've played in some great atmospheres but it's not always like that. It's fun and I hope we can keep on playing well. It feels like you're playing for your country out there."
On Friday at Wimbledon Murray will play Djokovic as the third match on Centre Court after 12pm before moving to the fourth match on Court 1 as he & Robson play their Australian opponents in the mixed doubles quarter-finals.
Share