Weary Murray continues hot streak on clay
best tennis then don’t have them playing matches at three o’clock in the morning.”
Granollers, a former top 20 player who has slipped to No 62 in the world, was under pressure from the start. Murray, who was aggressive throughout and dictated most of the points, made his first break in the fourth game and took the opening set in just 30 minutes. The Scot completed his 64-minute victory by winning the last eight games, rounding off the win by forcing Granollers into the last of many backhand errors.
“I definitely played well,” Murray said. “Marcel was getting quite frustrated in the second set and I fed off that a little bit. I definitely felt pretty tired today. Yesterday was an extremely late finish. I just tried to pump myself up as much as possible.”
Rafael Nadal, the defending champion, crushed Italy’s Simone Bolelli 6-2, 6-2 to earn a quarter-final meeting with Grigor Dimitrov, who beat Stan Wawrinka 7-6, 3-6, 6-3. In the other quarter-finals, Tomas Berdych will meet John Isner, who ended Nick Kyrgios’ run, while Kei Nishikori will take on David Ferrer.
Serena Williams, the world No 1, and Maria Sharapova, the defending champion, are on course to meet in the women’s final tomorrow. Williams beat Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-3, while Sharapova beat Caroline Wozniacki 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
In today’s semi-finals Williams will meet Petra Kvitova and Sharapova will take on Svetlana Kuznetsova, knowing that victory over her fellow Russian will guarantee her return to No 2 in the world rankings next week.