NEW YORK: Second seed and 2012 champion Andy Murray crushed Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 to reach a sixth US Open quarter-final Monday, clocking up a personal fast serve record in the process.
The 29-year-old reigning Wimbledon and Olympic champion stormed to an impressive seventh win in 10 meetings against the 22nd-seeded Dimitrov.
From the moment Murray broke for a 3-1 lead in the first set, on the back of a lung-busting 32-shot rally, the outcome of the Arthur Ashe Stadium clash was never in doubt.
For good measure, Murray sent down his fastest ever serve of 141mph (226.9 km/h) at the end of a set where he allowed Dimitrov just five points on his service.
“I once hit a 145mph serve in San Jose but they recalibrated the machine the next day so it didn’t count. Tonight was the first time I have gone above 140,” said the 29-year-old.
“It was lucky and I doubt I’ll ever do it again.”
Dimitrov broke only once in the match in the fourth game of the second set but it was a brief respite as Murray quickly reclaimed it before taking 10 of the next 12 games to seal the rout.
Dimitrov committed 43 unforced errors as Murray set up a last-eight clash with Japanese sixth seed Kei Nishikori, the 2014 runner-up who downed 37-year-old Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).
Karlovic fired 21 aces in the contest but Nishikori’s 44 winners and a miserly seven unforced errors proved the key.
“It’s never easy facing someone serving like Ivo, never easy to return those kind of serves,” said Nishikori.
“But I tried to stay down. I have been returning well, so that also helped today. I think I played one of the best matches — serve, return, groundstrokes.”
