Top seed Andy Murray kept his challenge for a first Queen’s title on course with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. The world number three had enjoyed a comfortable win over Andreas Seppi in his previous match and looked good again as he battled past Garcia-Lopez in straight sets to set up a quarter-final clash with Mardy Fish.

Murray took the opening set 6-4 against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez as his bid to reach the last eight of the AEGON Championship for the second successive year got off to the right start. Garcia-Lopez held serve to win the opening game but the Spaniard was not able to build on his good start as a powerful Murray won the second game without conceding a point. A stunning backhand from the Spaniard left Murray flatfooted and Garcia-Lopez went on to hold his serve once more. Murray’s serve was proving problematical to the Spaniard and at 136 mph, the Scot was on top as he quickly restored parity at 2-2. There was an anxious moment for the Spaniard when he slipped and fell awkwardly but he produced a fine forehand over the net to make it 15-all in the fifth game and went on to hold serve again.

Murray survived some worrying moments in the sixth game to level the scores at 3-3 but the Briton was clearly struggling to overcome the Spaniard who held serve again to go 4-3 in front. The tournament number one seed made it 4-4 and then two unforced errors handed Murray the chance to break the Spaniard’s serve for the first time. Although Garcia-Lopez managed to fight back and take the game to deuce, an over-hit return gave Murray the break he needed. A return into the net gave Murray set point and a fabulous cross-court forehand ensured he secured the first set 6-4.

With the momentum swinging his way, Murray upped his tempo and broke again in the fifth game of the second set to take a 3-2 lead. That was all the encouragement Murray needed and the Scot held serve three times to close out the match. “He started well and served well but once I got the break-through at the end of the first set I felt more comfortable and started to go for my shots,” Murray said after the match.

“I’ve felt good the first two matches and I’ll try to do the same against Mardy because he plays well on grass. “I expect a lot of myself and put a lot of pressure on myself and I’ll try to live up to those expectations in the next few weeks.” Fish, the American eighth seed, booked his place against Murray with a 6-1, 6-4 success against Spain’s Feliciano Lopez.

Elsewhere, sixth seed James Blake is also through to the quarter-finals after beating American compatriot Sam Querrey 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Blake will play Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny or French third seed Gilles Simon. Former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero also moved into the last eight with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Belgian qualifier Xavier Malisse. Ferrero takes on Steve Darcis after the Belgian was handed a walk-over following Gael Monfils’s withdrawal with a wrist injury on Wednesday.

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