Andy Murray, the world No 2, is preparing for a step up in class when he plays Croatian Marin Cilic for a place in the US Open quarter-finals. Murray brushed aside American wild-card Taylor Dent in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, wrapping up Sunday night's match at Arthur Ashe Stadium in 90 minutes to reach the last 16 of the final grand slam of the year.
Cilic, however - who was a 6-1, 6-4 6-3 winner over Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin - will prove an altogether tougher opponent than Dent, the world No 195. "He's tough, he's top 20, got a big serve," Murray said of 20-year-old Cilic, whom he has beaten in each of their previous three meetings, most recently in straight sets in the round of 16 at the French Open. "It's kind of similar to [first-round opponent Ernests] Gulbis, just a lot more solid.
"I'll have to make sure I return well against him, because he's got a good serve and be solid from the back of the court. "I'm not going to get as many free points on my own serve, because he returns a bit better than Taylor. "It's going to be a tough match." If Murray maintains the prodigious return of service he deployed against Dent, Cilic could be in for a rough ride. The Scot nonetheless warns different opponents require different types of return.
"A lot of it depends," said the 22-year-old. "Against someone like [Dent], Cilic is taller and his serve comes up a lot higher - and he's not serving and volleying. "You really want to get the ball back in play against him, because even if you hit a really clean return against a guy that's not serving and volleying they can dictate the point. "Someone like Taylor has a low ball toss and his serve comes through a lot lower.
"You need to make sure you hit a good return, because he's coming into the net. You can't leave the ball high and you can't block the returns. "That's really the most important thing - return differently against every player. I don't think you can return the same way against everybody." Dent was certainly impressed with the way Murray returned against him, the American describing the experience as making him feel like he was serving under-armed.
Murray quite liked it too and revealed he and coach Miles McLagan have developed a special technique to prepare for the game's heavy servers. "It's something I practise a lot," he said. "I view the return as being as important as the serves, so I practise it loads and have Miles serve at me from just behind the service line so I'm used to returning hard serves. He does that before every match, not just guys that serve big."
Victory for Murray would propel him into a quarter-final clash with either the in-form Juan Martin del Potro, or Juan Carlos Ferrero, both of whom he has beaten of late. * PA
