Murray cruises into last eight
Andy Murray produced his best performance since the Olympic final to ease past dangerman Milos Raonic and reach the US Open quarter-finals.
Under the lights on Arthur Ashe Stadium is an environment where the Scot feels completely at home and he showed it with a brilliant display to defeat big-serving Raonic 6-4 6-4 6-2.
The 21-year-old Canadian is regarded as the best of the next generation but he had no answer as Murray progressed to his eighth straight grand slam quarter-final, where he will face Croatia's Marin Cilic.
Murray hit 31 winners and made only 12 unforced errors as he wrapped up victory in exactly two hours, and the 25-year-old said: "I used a lot of variation tonight. Milos has a huge game. I had to guess sometimes on the return. I got lucky a couple of times and I hit my passing shots really well tonight."
They had met once before, on clay in Barcelona earlier this year - a match Raonic won - and the 21-year-old certainly does not lack confidence.
He had served 89 aces in his first three matches - substantially more than anyone else in the tournament - and Murray was having difficulty just getting a racquet on the ball in the early stages. But it was the Scot who had the first break point of the match in the seventh game, only for Raonic to come up with a big serve and forehand.
Raonic came under pressure again in his next service game, though, largely of his own making with two double faults. This time Murray had three break points and he took the third with a cute forehand drop shot - a tactic that was serving him well.
An indication of how well Murray was playing was that Raonic was making more than 70% of his first serves but had still faced nine break points while the Scot had not given his opponent a single chance.
The Canadian had really thought this could be his moment but he was being kept at arm's length by the excellence of Murray, and he faced yet another break point in the seventh game.
The Scot had left Raonic floundering time and again with his dipping passing shots and two more gave him a 5-2 lead and a chance to serve for the match, which he managed with consummate ease.
