Andy Murray treated royal couple Prince William and Catherine to a majestic Wimbledon performance on Monday while Novak Djokovic set up a meeting with Australian teenage trailblazer Bernard Tomic. Murray, the fourth seed, thrived in the 30-degree Centre Court heat to crush French 17th seed Richard Gasquet 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 6-2. Murray, bidding to become Britain’s first men’s Wimbledon champion since Fred Perry in 1936, has now reached a fourth consecutive quarter-final. His reward is a last eight clash against Spain’s Feliciano Lopez who beat Polish qualifier Lukasz Kubot in a five-set marathon. “I thought it was good – I think I served well, and I got a lot of free points off that,” said Murray, who has yet to make a Wimbledon final. Murray, twice a semi-finalist, also revealed he’d been left red-faced by his unkempt appearance when he was introduced to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
“If I’d known they were coming, I would have shaved. I was thinking to myself as I came off I was sweaty and very hairy. I said to them, I’m sorry, I’m a bit sweaty. But, yeah, it was really nice,” said the Scotsman. Second seed Novak Djokovic beat error-plagued Michael Llodra of France 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals and a meeting with Tomic. The 18-year-old Australian qualifier is the youngest quarter-finalist since Boris Becker in 1986. “He has great potential and believes he can win against the big players,” said Djokovic, who has lost just one of his last 48 matches. Tomic, the world number 158, reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final by seeing off Belgium’s Xavier Malisse, a former semi-finalist, 6-1, 7-5, 6-4. Only Becker, John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg have made the last eight at a younger age and Tomic is also the first qualifier to reach the last eight at Wimbledon since Vladimir Voltchkov in 2000. The teenager had already become the youngest man since Michael Chang in 1990 to reach the Wimbledon fourth round by defeating world number five Robin Soderling on Saturday.
“It’s an unbelievable achievement. I feel great. It’s a great honour to do it here in Wimbledon,” he said. “I never thought I’d be here the second week, especially in the quarter-finals. What a feeling and what a tournament it’s been for me.” Lopez, who put out three-time runner-up Andy Roddick in the third round, recovered from two sets to love down to defeat Polish qualifier Kubot 3-6, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (9/7), 7-5, 7-5. Later Monday, top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal was taking on Argentine dangerman Juan Martin del Potro while six-time winner Roger Federer who tackles Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny. Federer has a 10-0 winning record over Youzhny.
