Tournament: US Open 2016
Date: 7 September, Wednesday
Time: 1am SGT (Thursday)/10:30pm IST/6pm BST
Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York
TV Channel: Eurosport will provide live TV coverage in Singapore
Live Updates: Live Scores can be tracked on US Open's official website
Overview:
Andy Murray decimated his fourth-round opponent Grigor Dimitrov to set up a quarter-final meeting with Kei Nishikori in the 2016 US Open.
The Brit came up with a dominating performance in the first two rounds before he won a hard-fought third-round match against Italy's Paolo Lorenzi. On Monday, Murray sent out warning bells to his rivals with a 141mph serve while disposing of Dimitrov, who defeated him in Miami in March 2016.
Bidding for his third US Open title, the world number two looks well placed to progress further in the tournament. However, he is not willing to take his Japanese opponent, whom he defeated in the semi-final of his Gold medal-winning Rio Olympics campaign in August 2016, lightly.
Nishikori finished his 2014 US Open campaign as the second best. He outclassed Milos Raonic in a marathon battle before edging past Stanislas Wawrinka and world number one Novak Djokovic. Murray is wary of the good run the 26-year-old has had in the recent past on hard courts.
"I played a really good match against him when we played a few weeks ago. I'm aware I'll need to do that again in a couple days if I want to beat him because he's one of the best players in the world, plays extremely well on hard court," Murray spoke of his quarter-final opponent, as quoted by US Open's official site.
"He plays well in New York. He's made his only slam final here. He beat Novak here. He's obviously I think playing pretty well this summer. He played some good stuff at the Olympics and won the bronze."
On Monday, Nishikori defeated Ivo Karlovic in straight sets and bid goodbye to the Louis Armstrong Stadium, which will be replaced with a fresh structure for the 2018 edition of the tournament. The world number 11 played out four-setters in his first three rounds but upped against the Croatian.
Nishikori should also take heart from his flawless returns in the two-hour game against Karlovic ahead of Wednesday's big test. The youngster, who went down in straight sets against Murray in Rio, will look to come up with a better show this time at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
