Andy Murray racked-up his 50th Wimbledon match win while Roger Federer reached the quarterfinals for the 14th time on Monday as the pair edged closer to a dream title match.
Second seeded Murray, the 2013 champion, eased to a 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 win over fiery Australian Nick Kyrgios and will face French 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for a place in the semifinals.
Murray leads Tsonga 12-2 in previous meetings.
Federer, meanwhile, went equal with Jimmy Connors’ mark of 14 quarterfinals at Wimbledon and tied Martina Navratilova’s all-time Slam record of 306 match wins by seeing off Steve Johnson of the United States 6-2, 6-3, 7-5.
Kyrgios, the 15th seed who defeated Rafael Nadal at the tournament in 2014, did not force a break point on Murray’s serve as he slipped to his fifth loss in five meetings against the world number two.
He did manage to save two match points in the ninth game of the third set but was powerless to prevent Murray taking victory with an eighth ace of the contest.
“The first set was very tight. I managed to get the break at 6-5 but it was very tight up to that point,” explained Murray.
“The second set was obviously more comfortable. Nick lost his focus a bit in the middle part of that set.”
Kyrgios condemned his own performance.
“The first set was OK but after that it was pathetic,” said the 21-year-old in a typically surly post-match press conference.
Federer eyes revenge:
Seven-time champion Federer, the third seed, next takes on Croatia’s Marin Cilic for a place in the semifinals.
Cilic, the ninth seeded Croat, progressed to his third successive Wimbledon quarter-final when Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori pulled out of their last-16 clash with a rib injury.
Federer has a 5-1 record over Cilic but the big-server stunned the 17-time major champion in the US Open semi-finals in 2014 on his way to his maiden Grand Slam title.
“He blew me off the court in the US Open a few years ago and I hope to get him back,” said Federer.
