Murray Continues Flawless Progress, Tsonga Up Next

© Getty ImagesAndy Murray is yet to drop a set during the tournament.

Home favourite Andy Murray continued his flawless progression through The Championships as he dismissed American No. 18 seed Sam Querrey 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 for a place in the quarter-finals on Monday. The fourth seed is yet to drop a set in his bid to becoming the first British male champion at the All England Club since Fred Perry in 1936.

"Obviously it's nice for me. Conserves quite a lot of energy. I haven't had any long matches," said Murray, before adding: "It's kind of an irrelevant stat, because come the end of the tournament the guys like Federer and Nadal are going to be playing their best tennis. Whether they dropped sets early on is not going to make a difference to how they play the quarter-final, semi-final stage."

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The Scot capitalised on 35 unforced errors from Querrey, while keeping his own error count down at 16, and crucially saved seven of the eight break points he faced in his fourth meeting with the American. Murray was particularly effective on Querrey’s second serve, winning 25 of 40 points as he broke serve four times from 12 opportunities.

World No. 21 Querrey came into Wimbledon on the back of winning his first grass-court ATP World Tour title at The Queen’s Club (d. Fish) and was bidding to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final.  “[It came down to] just a couple little things here and there, but I had a good game plan. I just need to execute it a little better. Maybe make one or two volleys, and I'm right there,” said the American, who next will compete in Newport.

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The 23-year-old Murray is through to the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the third year in a row; last year he went on to reach the semi-finals, falling to Andy Roddick. The Dunblane native reached his second Grand Slam final at the start of the year at the Australian Open, losing out to Roger Federer. He also fell victim to the Swiss in his first major final at the 2008 US Open.

"The last few years I played well here," reflected Murray. "Obviously coming in I hadn't been on the best run. So it was nice to get off to a good start here. But got to try to go further now than I did in previous years. The next round's gonna be a tough one, but hope I can win."

Murray will next meet tenth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who reached the last eight for the first time when he beat compatriot and No. 32 seed Julien Benneteau 6-1, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in just under two hours. Murray leads Tsonga 2-1 in hard-court meetings.

“It was not really an easy match,” said Tsonga, who hit 14 aces and 39 winners. “I didn't play really well. But it was good to win because it was against another Frenchman.

“I feel confident. I know I can beat everybody. So I will play my game. I will try to play relaxed and be offensive. I know Andy likes grass. He plays well on this surface.  He is at home.  He will give everything. Maybe the pressure will be on his shoulders because for me I have nothing to lose.”

Looking ahead to the quarter-finals, Murray said: "Very difficult. Got a big game. Like Sam, he plays probably better around the net. He's a very good athlete. It's going to be a very, very tough match."