Australian Open 2016: Andy Murray overcomes Bernard Tomic to set up David Ferrer clash

Andy Murray cruised into a seventh straight quarter-final at the Australian Open after overcoming home favourite Bernard Tomic in three sets in Melbourne. The British number one set up a clash with David Ferrer after prevailing 6-4 6-4 7-6 (7-5) to continue his run at the opening grand slam of the year.

Murray joins Johanna Konta in the latter stages, the first time Great Britain have had players in the last eight of both the men's and women's singles at a grand slam since 1977. Konta earlier beat Ekaterina Makarova in three sets to become the first British women to reach a major quarter-final for 32 years.

Murray said of Tomic: "He fought right to the end and made it very tough for me but I was able to able to hit a few more balls. It was quite a scrappy match and it was a bit up and down with neither of us playing our best tennis at the same time.

"[Ferrer] obviously played great match against Lleyton [Hewitt] and he must be playing well to beat John [Isner], who hadn't face a break point in this tournament. It's a great effort for David to get through and he has been a great player and he has been at the top of the game for 10 years now."

Victory for Murray comes less than 72 hours after his father-in-law, Nigel Sears, was taken to hospital after collapsing during Ana Ivanovic's match against Madison Keys on Saturday [23 January]. And the Scot admits the build-up to his fourth round match had been "tough".

"The last few days were very tough and a lot of emotions and things changing all of the time in my head, so it has been a stressful few days," said Murray, whose wife Kim, Nigel's daughter, is expecting their first child in February. "It was good to get through today but I will rest up and hope to be ready in a few days."