Monday 25 January 2016 14:51, UK
Andy Murray continued his impressive progress at the Australian Open after defeating Bernard Tomic in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals.
The British No 1 has dropped only one set during the tournament and he produced another dominant display against the home favourite, sealing a 6-4 6-4 7-6 (7-4) victory to set up a last eight encounter with David Ferrer.
A recent health scare for father-in-law Nigel Sears had affected the build-up to the match, with Murray visiting his recovering relative in hospital, but he put his off-court concerns to one side at the Rod Laver Arena.
Murray had won his last three matches against Tomic, which included a singles meeting in last year's Davis Cup semi-final, and the Scot stamped his authority from the start.
After easing into a two-set lead, Murray was made to work a little harder in the third, and spurned two match points in the tie-break before Tomic's forehand drifted long to confirm his fourth defeat to Murray.
"It was a tough match - both of us had our chances in the tie-break," Murray said in his on-court interview. "He misses a few easy balls and that helped at the end.
"He made it pretty tough, but I was able to make a few more balls. It was quite scrappy, there wasn't a period in the match where we were playing at our best. It was a little bit up and down."
And on his quarter-final opponent David Ferrer, Murray added: "Tough match. He played a very good match against Lleyton [Hewitt] the other day. He must be playing well because he beat John [Isner] who hadn't faced a break point in his previous three matches.
"It's not going to be an easy match, he makes you work extremely hard and has been at the top of the game for 10 years now so he's got a lot of experience."
We will bring you all the news, views, reaction and opinion throughout the Australian Open.
