It's all looking good for 'best ever' Andy Murray

Andy Murray powered into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open today with a performance the British No1 described as one of his best.

Murray dismantled Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 in one hour 44 minutes with a near flawless display.

He has yet to drop a set in the tournament and has lost only 22 games in total - and no more than three in any one set.

Murray's chances of reaching the final in Australia for the second year in a row were improved further with the news that fourth-seed Robin Soderling, who he was due to meet next, was knocked out by Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov in five sets.

"That's one of the best matches I've played," Murray said after his win over Austrian Melzer.

"I'm hitting the ball well but it can change from day to day in an individual sport, so I need to be switched on for the next round."

But the world No5 added: "I am not expecting to go through the tournament winning matches like today's scoreline. I am mentally ready for when it does get tough."

That is likely to happen in the semi-finals, when Murray is expected to face world No1 Rafael Nadal.

The Spaniard moved serenely into the last eight today and extended his unbeaten run at Grand Slams to 25 matches as he disposed of Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 to set up a quarter-final against fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.

Nadal has been suffering from a virus in recent weeks but he said: "I am not sweating that much now, in previous days I was sweating like crazy and I was feeling very tired."