Ace Murray set to raise the roof again for Ferrero clash

ANDY MURRAY will once again have the hopes of a nation resting on his shoulders this afternoon as he goes in search of a place in the semi-finals of Wimbledon for the first time.

Less than 40 hours after his gruelling fourth round clash with Stanislas Wawrinka, the British No1 steps back onto Centre Court to take on Spanish wildcard Juan Carlos Ferrero for a place in the last four.

The Scot captured the hearts of the nation with his epic five-set victory over Wawrinka under the new All England Club roof on Monday night, watched by a record TV audience of 11.8m – over half of the overall viewing figure. Indeed, at Wimbledon itself, fans have queued for two days to snap up the remaining 500 tickets for Murray’s match this afternoon, and, should he win, Murraymania will escalate to all new heights.

Murray beat Ferrero in straight sets on his way to winning at Queen’s Club two weeks ago – the only meeting between the two. But Ferrero, 29, is a former world No1 and French Open champion, and even though he briefly spoke about retiring this year after sliding down the rankings, Murray is taking nothing for granted.

“Ferrero is a very tough player. He plays well on any surface – he’s a former world number one,” he said.

“In every match, regardless of who you’re playing against, especially in an individual sport, anything can happen on the day. I played very well at Queen’s but the courts here are a little bit different. If I play poorly, there’s a good chance I’ll lose against him. But I’ll try my best to play well. If I do that, I’ve got a chance of winning.”

Murray’s quarter-final gets underway after what is likely to be a serve-dominated contest between second seed Roger Federer and Ivo Karlovic. Fve-time champion Federer has been in imperious form so far but will find Karlovic a tough opponent with the Croatian having slammed down 137 aces in his four matches so far.

Waiting for Murray or Ferrero in the last four is 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt or the big-serving No6 seed Andy Roddick, who do battle on the adjacent Court One after No4 seed Novak Djokovic plays Tommy Haas in a repeat of the recent Halle final on grass, which the German won.

FAST FACTS JUAN CARLOS FERRERO
Nationality               Spanish
Seeded                    Unseeded
Ranking                   70
Titles in 2009          1
Career titles            12
Grand Slam wins    1 (French Open 03)
Best Wimbledon     QF (07, 09)