LONDON (AFP) ? Andy Murray's campaign to end Britain's 75-year wait for a Wimbledon men's singles champion continues on Wednesday as he takes on Feliciano Lopez in the quarter-finals while Rafael Nadal battles to overcome a nagging foot injury.
Murray, the fourth seed, sailed into the last eight with a straight sets win over Richard Gasquet and was safely back in his London home when Nadal -- his scheduled semi-final opponent -- suffered a potentially tournament-ending blow.
The world number one suffered the injury in Monday's last 16 win over Juan Martin del Potro and immediately thought his future participation in the tournament was in doubt.
But the 25-year-old later revealed on his Facebook page that he will be fit to tackle Fish on Wednesday.
"Yesterday after the match I went to take an MRI at a London hospital," he said.
"During the match I thought I had something serious. But as the match went on the pain got better and thankfully the tests don't show an injury," he added.
Nadal is due to face American 10th seed Mardy Fish in the quarter-finals where he will be defending a 5-0 career record.
Fish, the only US player left in either the men's or women's singles, had never got beyond the third round before this year.
Nadal's pain could be Murray's gain when Wednesday's quarter-finals swing round.
The fourth seeded Scot reached his fourth consecutive Wimbledon quarter-final with easily his best performance of the tournament and will next tackle Lopez, who he has beaten four times in four meetings.
"Lopez beat Andy Roddick in the last round, straight sets. He serves very well, has a good slice backhand, plays different than a lot of the Spaniards. He likes coming forward a lot," said Murray.
"I'm sure in the next match, a lot of people will be expecting me to win. But you need to go out there and I know it's going to be very difficult. It's the quarter-finals of a slam."
Lopez, who will be appearing in his third Wimbledon quarter-final, reached the last eight the hard way, coming from two sets to love down to defeat Polish qualifier Lukasz Kubot 3-6, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (9/7), 7-5, 7-5.
"What can I say about Andy? He's a great player. He had an easy win, straight sets today, so he must be very confident," said Lopez.
"But I love the grass. I think the conditions are good for my game."
Second seed Novak Djokovic tackles 18-year-old qualifier Bernard Tomic in the last eight with the Australian player the youngest quarter-finalist since Boris Becker in 1986.
"He has great potential and believes he can win against the big players," said Djokovic, who has lost just one of his last 48 matches.
Tomic, the world number 158, reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final by seeing off Belgium's Xavier Malisse, a former semi-finalist, 6-1, 7-5, 6-4.
Only Becker, John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg have made the last eight at a younger age and Tomic is also the first qualifier to reach the last eight at Wimbledon since Vladimir Voltchkov in 2000.
"It's an unbelievable achievement. I feel great. It's a great honour to do it here in Wimbledon," he said.
"I never thought I'd be here the second week, especially in the quarter-finals. What a feeling and what a tournament it's been for me."
Six-time champion Roger Federer dropped his first set of this year's Wimbledon before clinching a 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Mikhail Youzhny on Monday.
The 16-time Grand Slam winner faces France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last eight and is seeded to face Djokovic in the semi-finals.
Federer, playing in a record 29th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final, has 4-1 record over Tsonga but appreciates the danger of the 12th-seeded Frenchman.
"He's a great player. He's proven it on numerous occasions. It's going to be good tennis," Federer said.
"He was the guy I kind of expected to come through in that section. It happened, so it's going to be a tough match.
"I think he's got the weapons to be a huge threat on grass and make a run here. It's a tough draw, but I'm ready for it."
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