Federer and Murray on collision course

The 'dream final' of Andy Murray v Roger Federer looked increasingly possible this afternoon after the Scot dismantled Juan Carlos Ferrero under a cloudless Wimbledon sky to book his place in the semi-finals of the tournament.

After the nail-biting drama of his five-set indoor encounter with Stanislas Wawrinka in the last round, the SW19 faithful had reason to be fearful as the British number one took to the court to take on Ferrero, a former world number one.

Murray played tentatively for a while and Ferrero was more than able to keep pace. The pair traded service games until Murray, leading 6-5, finally earned the break and with it the first set.

The Spaniard seemed to be making a game of it when he broke Murray early in the second set, but that simply inspired the home crowd's favourite to step up a gear. After finding himself 3-1 down, Murray went on an incredible run to win 20 out of 21 points and take five straight games to secure the second set 6-3.

Unsurprisingly that passage of play seemed to break Ferrero and, while he was able to hang in the opening salvos of the third, he was once again eclipsed as Murray broke him twice to seal the final set 6-2.

Murray's extraordinary acceleration against Ferrero was the second masterclass the centre court crowd were treated to on quarter finals day. Earlier they witnessed another faultless display from top seed Roger Federer, who demolished the big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic in straight sets, 6-3 7-5 7-6 (7-3).

Federer will meet German Tommy Haas in the semi-finals while Murray will face the winner of this evening’s Hewitt-Roddick game.