Murray scorches past Tursunov

ANDY Murray overcame the searing heat last night to produce some scorching tennis as he saw off Dmitry Tursunov 6-3, 6-3 to clinch a place in the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Masters.

The Scot received a further boost later when Roger Federer suffered another shock defeat as he went down 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 7-6 to big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic – a result which opens up Murray's route to a potential final meeting with Rafael Nadal in which he could prevent the Spaniard from assuming the world No1 spot.

Federer's record four-and-a-half year reign at the top of the ATP rankings will now come to an end if Nadal wins this week. Since his epic five-set loss to Nadal at Wimbledon, Federer has lost in the second round in Toronto and now failed to make the quarter-finals at a tournament he won last year.

Murray will now face Carlos Moya in the last eight after the Spaniard beat Igor Andreev of Russia 6-4, 7-6 (7/2).

Aside from some brief wobbles in the first set, the world No9 found his best form despite the testing conditions. "It's so hot, unbelievably humid, you get out of breath really quickly so I was happy to come through in two sets," said Murray. "I started to feel the ball better when I broke him early in the second. Against him it's so important to stay solid because he can produce some huge shots, get on a roll, and I was lucky that I didn't let him do that today.

"I changed the pace of the ball well and used the short slice and he didn't like that very much."

There was little sign of the nagging knee injury which has hampered him in recent weeks as he maintained the level of performance which saw him run Nadal close in the semis at Toronto last week.

Murray came from 30-0 down to break Tursunov in the opening game before firing an ace with his first serve of the match to make an ominous statement of intent.

The Russian saw off compatriot and Wimbledon semi-finalist Marat Safin in the first round before benefiting from Richard Gasquet's retirement on Wednesday, but he struggled early on as the Scot pulled him all over the court. Murray briefly took his foot off the accelerator in the fourth, missing routine passing shots to hand a first break opportunity to Tursunov.

But the 21-year-old showed trademark tenacity to chase down what seemed certain to be a winner and force an error from Tursunov. Murray went on to hold and gain a significant psychological advantage.

Perhaps almost as predictably, however, Murray then allowed his opponent a foothold into the match with a break back in the sixth game. Tursunov gained increasing confidence, typified by a glorious forehand winner up the line in the seventh, as he sought a first win over Murray at the fifth attempt. But in a see-saw first set, the world No34 then sent down two double faults in the same game to hand Murray a second break – which he consolidated for 5-3.

An outrageous, spinning backhand drop shot handed the Briton a first set point on Tursunov's serve, and a booming forehand winner sealed it 6-3. Murray claimed three break points in the second game of the second set and needed all of them before clinching his 25-year-old opponent's service game in style.

A beautifully constructed and lengthy rally ended with a stunning crosscourt backhand winner which appeared to be the last straw for the Russian's hopes. Murray, playing a series of delightful shots, then held to love to move 3-0 ahead. Tursunov battled gamely but the eighth seed was rarely troubled as he closed out a comfortable victory.

Federer found Karlovic too much to handle as he slumped to another dispiriting defeat. Karlovic, who hit 22 aces and many more service winners, has also played more tiebreaks than anyone else this season, the potency of his delivery frequently reducing each set to a shootout over a dozen or so points at the end. That was about the worst scenario for an already under-pressure Federer, who is still trying to recover from the biggest emotional setback of his career – the loss of his Wimbledon title to Nadal three and a half weeks ago – and whose confidence is at low levels.

"It's not easy coming from slower conditions to fast ones," Federer said. "But I have played Ivo on all surfaces and he actually gets a greater play on the slower ones. But what are you going to do today if he serves like that? Maybe if I got the first set I would be sitting here and it would be different, but that's not the case."

In the opening-set tiebreak it all went with serve till 6-6 when Federer topspun a drive which was called in, only for it to be changed after Karlovic appealed to the Hawkeye replay system. Karlovic then hit a winning forehand drive on the next point.

Federer chiselled out one break of serve in the fifth game of the second set but in the deciding third-set tiebreak, Federer suffered a chronic piece of ill-fortune. On his opening service point, a forehand drive struck the top of the net cord and leapt the full length of the court to land long. Karlovic clung to that advantage and ended the match with a service winner on the line.

Nadal continued his magnificent run of form on the ATP circuit with a comprehensive victory in his opening match in Cincinnati. The second seed took just 49 minutes to dismantle Frenchman Florent Serra in a 6-0, 6-1 second-round win. Nadal has won his last five events and has a 30-match winning streak since a second-round defeat to Juan Carlos Ferrero at Rome in early May. The 22-year-old lost only ten points in the opening set and won 75 per cent of his return points, breaking Serra three times. The Spaniard will face Tommy Haas of Germany in the third round. Haas was leading Gael Monfils 5-1 when Monfils retired.

World No3 Novak Djokovic defeated Italy's Simone Bolelli 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/2) in the second round to set up a meeting with Italy's Andreas Seppi.