Grand slam experience is quarter-final key for Murray

The fourth seed goes into today's meeting with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as the only man to have reached the last eight without dropping a set.

Having coming into the tournament with expectations dampened by a poor run of form since his Australian Open final defeat by Roger Federer in January, Murray has put himself firmly among the favourites with four impressive performances.

His straightforward passage has been in stark contrast to that of top seeds Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who have both come through five-set battles.

Murray said: "It's obviously nice for me. I've conserved quite a lot of energy. But it's kind of an irrelevant stat because, come the end of the tournament, the guys like Federer and Nadal are going to be playing their best tennis.

"Whether they dropped sets early on is not going to make a difference to how they play at the quarter-final or semi-final stage."

What is likely to make a difference is knowing what the occasion holds, and the British No 1 can draw on five previous grand slam quarter-finals, three of which he has won. "It's not just here," he explained. "Playing in grand slams, playing more major tournaments, does make a difference experience-wise. Anybody will tell you that. In all sports, you just learn how to deal with the situations better.

"Because you've been in that position before, it's not something new. You understand how to prepare better. When you're on the court, you're not as uptight or nervous. You just play the match rather than everything else that's going on."

Murray's form in victories over Jan Hajek, Jarkko Nieminen, Gilles Simon and Sam Querrey has caused quite a stir but the man knows the biggest tests are still to come.

He said: "I'm playing really well. But you have got to wait until the end of the tournament really to see how well you've been playing. I need to make sure that I up my game when the matches get tougher and in the tight situations."

Tsonga was the opponent for one of Murray's most disappointing moments when he lost to the Frenchman in the opening round of the Australian Open in 2008.

The 10th seed has not been entirely convincing in his first four matches but Murray knows what a dangerous opponent the powerful 25-year-old can be.

"He's got a big game and he's a very good athlete," said the world No 4. "It's going to be a very, very tough match. He's very exciting to watch. I'm sure there will be some great shots played in the match."

If successful, Murray will face either Robin Soderling or No 2 Rafael Nadal, who resume their rivalry in the pick of the quarter-finals.

Defending champion Federer will run into Czech 12th seed Tomas Berdych and the winner of that last-eight meeting will meet either third seed Novak Djokovic or Andy Roddick's conqueror, Yen-Hsun Lu, in the semi-finals.