ANDY MURRAY has found himself overshadowed at Wimbledon this year by the heroics of other British players and the shock exit of Novak Djokovic, and it was the same again on fourth-round day.
This time the man taking the headlines was Nick Kyrgios, who Murray brushed aside to set up a last-eight clash with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
The world number two looked every inch the title favourite in a 7-5 6-1 6-4 win but Kyrgios lost his focus in the second set and did not give his opponent the test that had been expected.
READ MORE: Bromance is dead as Murray floors Kyrgios with a Glasgow kiss
The volatile young Australian berated himself for his performance, saying: "It was a good first set. The rest of the match was pretty pathetic. As soon as I lost the first set, I just lost belief.
"I think when things get tough, I'm just a little bit soft. I've got experience, but it ultimately comes down to just laying it all out there and competing for a long time. I didn't do that at all."
Kyrgios said ahead of the match that it was "love at first sight" with Murray, and the Scot often stands up for his friend when he receives negative press, but not this time.
The world number two said: "I think he's got a bit of time on his side. But obviously there's a few things he needs to improve and get better at. The sooner he does that, the better for him and his career."
Kyrgios knows he needs to do better but appears unsure how to go about it.
READ MORE: Bromance is dead as Murray floors Kyrgios with a Glasgow kiss
Asked if he was applying himself fully, the 15th seed shook his head and, when asked if that was something he wanted to address, he replied: "I don't know."
The tears that he was struggling to hold back showed that he does care, and he added: "At times, like I've previously said, I don't love the sport. But I don't really know what else to do without it.
"I know that I have the talent to do good things. It's just, yeah.
"I woke up this morning and played computer games. Is that the greatest preparation? I don't know. But it was fun.
"Every time I come here, I lose to good players. But it's just disappointing. I don't know. I just want to do better."
But, for all Kyrgios' failings, the key factor was the performance of Murray, who found a perfect mix of patience and aggression.
Time and again he pulled his opponent forward with pinpoint drop shots and it was no surprise that Kyrgios' levels of frustration bubbled over.
Asked what they said to each other at the end, Kyrgios said: "He said, 'Sorry'. I said, 'It's okay. Just win the tournament, please'."
Murray was joined in the quarter-finals by Roger Federer, who is the only other man not yet to have dropped a set.
READ MORE: Bromance is dead as Murray floors Kyrgios with a Glasgow kiss
The women take centre stage on Tuesday for quarter-final day, with Serena and Venus Williams looking to stay on course for a fifth final meeting.
Dominika Cibulkova, meanwhile, will postpone her wedding, scheduled for finals day on Saturday, if she beats Elena Vesnina.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article