British sixth seed Andy Murray stormed into the quarter-finals of the U.S. Open for the first time with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 demolition of Swiss 10th seed Stanislas Wawrinka on Monday.
Murray, who reached his maiden grand slam quarter-final at Wimbledon earlier this summer, dominated Wawrinka in every department of the game, racing to victory in one hour 49 minutes.
"It's always tough playing against one of your friends," Murray said in a courtside interview. "But this is the fourth round of the U.S. Open, it's my favourite tournament, so I had to put friendship aside just for tonight.
"I've played well all summer, I won in Cincinnati and reached the semis in Toronto. Hopefully I can continue in the next round."
Both players had come from two sets down to reach round four but Murray was the fresher, serving well and pulling the Swiss from side to side with his pinpoint groundstrokes.
After cruising through the first set, Murray broke once to win the second and twice in the third as he set up a clash with Argentine 17th seed Juan Martin Del Potro.
When asked why he preferred the U.S. Open to his home grand slam event, Wimbledon, Murray had a quick answer.
"Tonight we had the guys from 'Entourage' watch and that's my favourite show," he said, referring to the hit U.S. television series about the entertainment business. "I love that show and you don't get that back home."
(Writing by Simon Cambers, editing by Claudia Parsons)
