Murray storms into quarter-finals

Fifth seed Andy Murray overcame the booming serve of John Isner to progress to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the first time.

The Scot needed just over two hours to claim a 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 6-2 win against the 33rd seed and set up a possible last-eight meeting with defending champion Rafael Nadal.

Murray is yet to drop a set at Melbourne Park, the first time he has reached the quarter finals of a grand slam with four straight-sets wins, although he had to stave off a set point in a closely-fought opening set.

As expected the 6ft 9in American's serve had Murray on the back foot early and Murray found little reason for optimism against it early on.

However, he eventually got to grips with Isner's main weapon and showed his class, digging deep to take the first set and going on to win the next two for an impressive victory.

"He's got the best serve in the game, it's tough. Once you get out there its so tricky," said Murray, who admitted the first set was crucial.

"The first was always going to be so important. He's tired, he won a tournament coming into this, he's winning in the doubles so it was always going to be key and I'm really happy with the effort."