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Murray looking to take advantage of Wimbledon draw

Great Britain's Andy Murray reacts after winning the second set in his match against Spain's Tommy Robredo on day five of the 2013 Wimbledon Championships in London on June 28, 2013. UPI/Hugo Philpott
Great Britain's Andy Murray reacts after winning the second set in his match against Spain's Tommy Robredo on day five of the 2013 Wimbledon Championships in London on June 28, 2013. UPI/Hugo Philpott | License Photo

LONDON, July 2 (UPI) -- World No. 2-ranked Andy Murray is in a half of the draw with two unseeded players, a No. 24 seed and the hopes of a nation at the 127th Wimbledon Championships.

Murray, from Scotland, reached the Wimbledon semifinals a year ago, losing to Roger Federer. However, he beat Federer shortly after that in the Olympics, which were played at Wimbledon.

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After Monday's 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 win over Mikhail Youzhny, Murray has moved into Wednesday's quarterfinals at Wimbledon for a sixth consecutive year. Going back to the Olympics, he's won his last 15 matches and, including the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, 21-of-22 matches on grass courts.

He may be in his best place to become the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win the Wimbledon Championships.

Murray is yet to lose a set in this year's championships as he heads into the quarterfinals against Fernando Verdasco, against whom he is 8-1 (although they haven't played since 2009).

The winner of that match advances to the semifinals against 24th-seeded Jerzy Janowicz or Lukasz Kubot, a historic all-Polish quarterfinal. Those slots, if the tournament had played to form, would have been filled by Federer and fifth-seeded Rafael Nadal.

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The quarters in the top half of the draw feature four Top 10 players. Novak Djokovic, No. 1 in the world, goes against seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych and fourth-seeded David Ferrer takes on No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro.

Berdych won his most recent meeting against Djokovic, on a clay court in Rome, but that was only his second victory versus Djokovic in 15 tries. The other win was at the 2010 semifinals at Wimbledon.

Ferrer, who is having a strong year, has won six of his eight matches against del Potro but del Potro has a Grand Slam title to his credit, having won the U.S. Open in 2009 in his only major tournament final. Ferrer has been in one Grand Slam final, losing to Nadal last month at the French Open.

The men's singles semifinals are scheduled for Friday with the tournament-ending final set for Sunday.

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