Andy Murray hung tough to see off a dogged John Isner and reach the semi-finals of the 2011 US Open.
Murray's four set win means he is just the seventh man in the Open Era to reach at least the semi-finals of all the majors in a calendar year. Murray has shown remarkable consistency in the biggest events this season but he had to be at his resilient best to see off a determined Isner 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(2).
Murray looked to be in control at two sets to love up. Isner looked spent and Murray was consistently exploiting his heavy legs with teasing drop shots but somehow the American found a second wind, rediscovered the bite of his serve and came close to pushing Murray to five sets.
As it was, Murray was kept on court for over three and half hours, not ideal preparation for a potentially epic battle with Rafael Nadal on Saturday afternoon.
"I'm really happy to get through," Murray said. "He started serving very well as the match went on and it came down to a few points. I played really well, especially in the fourth-set tie-break. I went for my shots, served well and returned well."
"I know I can win (tomorrow). I beat Rafa here before [in the 2008 semi-finals]. I need to serve well, and then try and be patient from the back of the court but dictate the points when I can. When it's windy on that court from one of the ends, it's very difficult to dictate the points. So from the side when I have the wind with me, I'll be looking to make him move."
"If you can get free points on your serve and you can hold comfortable service games, you can put pressure on him that way. But if you're not, then you have to play a lot of rallies. He obviously doesn't make many mistakes and his ball is very heavy, so that makes it tough."
