Wimbledon Betting / maxliu / 01 July 2009 / Leave a comment

Andy Murray has banished the ghosts of last year's quarter-final humbling and is now ready to power his way into the Wimbledon semi-finals, says Max Liu.

Somewhere around the midway point of Monday night's five setter against Stanislas Wawrinka, Britain turned on to Murray.

Of course, the boisterous boys and union jack crop-topped middle-aged women of centre court have been behind him for a few years but on Monday, at about 2-6 6-3 3-3, a hush descended on our cities, the roads emptied of traffic and a genuine sense of national occasion was palpable.

Britain will again come to a halt at three o'clock this afternoon when Murray walks out on centre court for his Wimbledon quarter-final against Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Whether his fourth round epic is remembered as the turning point in a successful campaign or a match which left him knackered for subsequent battles, time will tell. However, it's worth noting that it's almost a year to the day that a centre court fan bellowed, "You've had a great tournament, Murray," as the British number one faced match point against Rafael Nadal at the quarter-final stage.

Nadal duly disposed of Murray and the dream was dead as fans washed off the face paint and forgot about tennis for another year. Meanwhile, Murray dusted himself down, asked himself some serious questions, found redemption by beating Nadal on the way to the US Open final and won three masters series events. Whatever he goes on to achieve, that 6-3 6-2 6-4 humbling against Nadal will be remembered as a career catalyst for Murray.

Reaching the quarter-finals no longer amounts to a good tournament either for Murray or his fans. As many have said already over the last week: before we lived in hope, whereas now we expect success. In 2009, only winning Wimbledon will be regarded as a success.

Last year too, Murray came through a fourth round five-setter - against Richard Gasquet - but the world number three's [1.12] favouritism to beat Ferrero today suggests that Betfairians are unconcerned with omens.

Rightly so. Against Gasquet, Murray came from two sets down to produce a performance of heroic, high-wire tennis whereas overcoming Wawrinka was all about professional steel. On Monday, Wimbledon witnessed what Flusing Meadows, Indian Wells and Dubai have all seen in the last year: Murray as machine.

But he is still yet to go beyond the quarter-finals at SW19 and Ferrero should not be underestimated. The former French Open champion has been impressive en route to the last eight - especially in his straight sets defeat of eighth seed Gilles Simon. As a wild card entrant some have speculated that he could yet emulate Goran Ivanisevic's winning heroics of 2001. However, at [8.6] to get past Murray and [150.00] in the mens' tournament winner market, punters don't foresee a fairytale.

They only have eyes for Murray.