Andy Murray reached his first French Open quarter-final, and the third in his last four slams, with a 7-5, 7-6, 6-1 victory over Marin Cilic. The 20-year-old Croat, ranked 10 places below Murray at No13 in the world, had been expected to pose a considerable threat but Murray dealt with the best Cilic could throw at him, including a booming serve and forehand, with considerable ease. He now plays Chile's Fernando González, the former Australian Open finalist, who beat Romania's Victor Hanescu 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.
Cilic, the youngest player left in the draw on the men's side was, like Murray, playing in his first fourth-round match at Roland Garros, although unlike Murray he had never gone beyond this round in any slam. At the beginning he appeared the more tense, entering the Suzanne Lenglen court with a slow, serious tread, while Murray waved happily to the crowd.
An exchange of breaks at the beginning suggested both players were a little nervous and thereafter the serve dominated until the 11th game when Murray stepped up the pressure and Cilic cracked. Before this match the Croat had dropped only 21 games in three straight-sets victories, the fewest of any player through to the last 16. But after 48 minutes of routine tennis he lost the opening set and with it any momentum he had hoped to create.
Cilic had defeated Murray in the semi-finals of the French Open junior tournament, though had lost both their meetings afterwards on grass at Wimbledon, and indoors in Madrid. Murray appeared to be playing well within himself and quickly broke Cilic's serve in the second set to establish a 3-1 lead. The Croat was rarely able to establish any rhythm and was making far too many errors.
The crowd clearly wanted a closer match and tried to lift Cilic. He responded with a severe service game to love for 3-4 and then levelled when Murray hit a loose cross-court backhand wide. Briefly it seemed that Murray might be about to enter one of those barren periods that still descend upon him from time to time but he quickly righted the ship and, despite not hitting a first serve in, won the tie-break with ease as Cilic made error upon error.
The chances of the 6ft 6in Cilic staging a comeback from two sets down were always remote and Murray pressed for the line largely unimpeded. Cilic achieved treatment on his left thigh at 3-0 down in the final set and Murray romped home.
González has won all his four games in straight sets, and hit 50 winners against Hanescu, but Murray will clearly fancy his chances of reaching the semi-finals.
