Murray sets up a tasty encounter with Federer

Andy Murray continues British interests in the Australian Open as he shakes off Stephane Robert to set up a tough quarter-final.

The world number three won 6-1 6-2 6-7 in two hours and 42 minutes to reach the quarter-finals.

In the last eight he'll meet Roger Federer who defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets; the Federer we hadn't seen since the Wimbledon 2012 final had returned.

But, back to Murray's match and it was Robert who was truly outclassed in the first two sets. The world number 119 saw a surge of form which saw him take the third set, much to Murray's frustration.

"I dominated 95% of the match, and for 15 minutes didn't close the match out," said Murray.

"But I still created chances, even when I wasn't playing so well at the end of that third set. And then the fourth set was fairly comfortable.

"I lost my serve once, so it was pretty good for the most part."

The Frenchman known as the 'lucky loser' as he lost a match in qualifying, was frank with the press when he said he had nothing to lose going into the match against Murray. He savoured the experience playing one of the sports top stars and experiencing the showcourt environment. 

Murray powered through nine straight games to take the second set, it had been one-way traffic up until this point. Robert had failed to put a dent in Murray's armour in the first two sets, but it was all about to change in the third.

Robert saw off three break points at 3-3 to hold in the third set, but when Murray crunched a backhand return on the seventh, the win almost appeared to be the Brits. 

There's always a 'but', so, Murray became slightly more nervy when he faced break point in his next service game and was then broken trying to close out the match. 

My my, how the tables had turned. The match at first appeared to be simple for Murray, but Robert certainly didn't want to follow the script. The Frenchman moved into a 4-2 lead in the tie-break, before Murray reeled off three attacking volleys and a thumping backhand to earn two match points. 

Murray smashed his racket in anger after his challenge to the Umpire failed and Robert took the set. Despite a slight set back Murray powered to 3-1 lead in the fourth and final set. 

Finally, Murray converted his sixth match point to win. The Brits usual fist pump to his box showed how he was glad he got through a some what shaky fourth round match to reach his fifth successive Australian Open quarter-final.