Wimbledon: Andy Murray through to quarter-finals after straight sets victory over Nick Kyrgios

If Andy Murray treats his friends like this, who knows what he might do to an enemy? Murray talks warmly about Nick Kyrgios, the controversial Australian who is one of the game’s outstanding young talents, but there was never a hint of mercy as the world No 2 won 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 to reach his ninth successive Wimbledon quarter-final.

Murray’s 19th win in the 19 tour-level matches he has played against Australians earned a last-eight meeting on Wednesday with an opponent from another country whose players he loves to sweep aside. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Murray in the first round of the Australian Open eight years ago, but since then the Scot has won 26 matches in a row against Frenchmen in Grand Slam competition. He has won 12 of his 14 career meetings with Tsonga, including two here at the All England Club.

While Murray will be looking no further than his next match, this crushing victory reinforced his position as the favourite to win the tournament following Novak Djokovic’s defeat at the weekend. It was Murray’s ninth successive victory on grass following his triumph at Queen’s Club in the build-up to Wimbledon and he remains unbeaten since his reunion with Ivan Lendl.

“If I can keep the level I’m playing at now I think I give myself a chance in most matches,” Murray said afterwards. “The trick is to keep that up and maintain that level for the whole two weeks.”

He added: “Today was very good. I knew it was a dangerous match so I was switched on from the start. I’m fully aware of how difficult my next opponent is as well. I know Tsonga is one of the best grass-court players in the world.”

Murray has now reached the quarter-finals at 20 of the last 21 Grand Slam tournaments he has played – the only hiccup was his fourth-round loss to Kevin Anderson t last year’s US Open - while his tally of 50 wins at the All England Club is bettered by only seven players in the Open era.

Kyrgios contributed to his own downfall by losing his focus after Murray won a tight first set – the Australian described his subsequent performance as “pretty pathetic” - but Murray played almost flawless tennis. By the end Kyrgios looked utterly downcast, having been bewildered by the variety of his opponent’s game as Murray mixed crunching cross-court forehands and thumping backhand winners with delightful variations of pace and spin.

There were times when Murray seemingly had Kyrgios on a string as he pulled the world No 18 into the net with deft drop shots and then sent him scampering back to retrieve killing lobs. Murray hit 36 winners to Kyrgios’ 29, but an even more telling statistic was the Scot’s tally of just six unforced errors, compared with the Australian’s 19.

Kyrgios, nevertheless, did himself no favours with some of his tactics and shot selection. Wanting to come into the net as much as possible might have been a reasonable strategy, but all too often his approach shots were simply not good enough. Murray loves to have a target at the net and when he has time to take aim before pulling the trigger he is usually deadly.

Kyrgios made 46 approaches to the net and won the point on only 24 of them; Murray made 22 approaches and won the point on 18 of them. If Kyrgios had a coach – he has flown solo for more than a year now – that surely would be one of the lessons from this match that would be drilled into him.

There were other times when Kyrgios went for the flashy option by attempting outrageous drop shots or thunderbolt forehands when he would have been better advised to play the percentage game. He had only to look over the other side of the net to see the benefits of making your opponent hit as many balls as possible and choosing the right moments to go for your shots.

Kyrgios has a big serve – his fastest of 138mph was 8mph quicker than his opponent’s – but Murray repeatedly made inroads into the Australian’s service games. The Scot had 13 break points, while Kyrgios did not have any. In the last two sets Kyrgios won only seven points on Murray’s serve.

After the previous match had finished under a closed roof, the weather improved sufficiently for it to be opened for the last match of the day on Centre Court. The first set was closely fought. With Kyrgios serving with great power and accuracy, the Australian was holding his own, but everything changed in the 12th game.

When he served at 5-6 Kyrgios went 0-40 down after Murray played two superb points. The Scot hit a backhand cross-court pass winner to go 0-30 up and then a beautifully delicate cross-court backhand which forced Kyrgios, crouching low at the net, into a volley error. Two unreturned serves saved set points, but on the third Kyrgios netted what should have been a routine volley.

Murray kept up the pressure in the second set, which he took in just 26 minutes as Kyrgios began to look increasingly distracted and disconsolate. Murray broke for the fourth and last time in the third game of the second set. One point alone was enough to destroy whatever spirit Kyrgios had left. The Australian appeared to be in control of the rally when he served at 0-15 until Murray slapped a thunderous forehand from one corner to the other to win the point.

Towards the end Kyrgios sat slumped forward in his chair at a changeover, his hands on his head, looking as if this was the last place in the world he wanted to be.

Murray served out for the match after just an hour and 43 minutes. When he met Kyrgios at the net the Scot almost looked embarrassed. Kyrgios revealed later: “He said: ‘Sorry’. I said: ‘It’s OK. Just win the tournament please.’ Then we hugged.”