Murray On A Roll In Cincy

Andy Murray extended his career-best winning streak to 21 on Friday with a convincing victory against unseeded Bernard Tomic in the Western & Southern Open quarter-finals. The top-seeded Scot prevailed 6-4, 6-4 to maintain an unbeaten 5-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against the Australian.

The two-time champion broke for 3-2 and saved a break point when serving out the opening set in 40 minutes. Both players were strong on serve throughout the second set with neither facing a break point until Tomic was broken to love for 5-4.

Murray closed it out on his first match point after one hour and 19 minutes to set up a semi-final showdown with No. 4 seed Milos Raonic.

“When the important moments came I felt like I served well when I was behind, and then as soon as I had my chance on my serve I capitalised on them,” Murray said. “That was the difference. I just played the bigger points better tonight.”

Murray was particularly impressive on serve, finishing with 10 aces and claiming 85 per cent of first-serve points.  He saved both break points faced.

The win gives the World No. 2 in the Emirates ATP Rankings a 31-1 record since losing the Mutua Madrid Open final to Novak Djokovic in May. It consigned Tomic to his third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final defeat from three contested. 

Murray will carry the confidence of a 7-3 FedEx ATP Head2Head record into his semi-final clash with Raonic. “Yeah, tough match obviously,” Murray said of facing the Canadian. “We played some important matches this year in Australia in the semis and then the Wimbledon final, Queen’s final as well.

“It’s been tight, but just managed to play a little bit better in the important moments, which is – especially playing against a big server – very important. You don’t get loads of chances. Hopefully I will do that again tomorrow.”