Friday 8 August 2014 12:44, UK
Andy Murray's passage into the quarter-finals of the Toronto Masters has been a breeze, but a rejuvenated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga now awaits the Scot on Friday.
The British No 1 played his first match since his Wimbledon exit on Wednesday and raced past promising Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios 6-2 6-2 with a highly-accomplished performance to set up a third-round clash with 12th seed Richard Gasquet.
But, just as the eighth seed was preparing for his match he was handed a walkover without having to step onto the court after Gasquet withdrew due to an abdominal strain.
The two-time grand slam champion now comes up against a red-hot Tsonga, who handed world No 1 Novak Djokovic a shock 6-2 6-2 defeat in what was his first victory over his opponent in 12 meetings.
Murray, the 2013 Wimbledon champion who had back surgery last autumn, will be fresh, although the hard-hitting Frenchman will be a whole different proposition, to be shown live on Sky Sports 3 later on Friday.
Tsonga has found success over the years on the Canadian hard courts reaching the semi-finals in two of his previous three visits and he can return to the final four again with a win over Murray
"I was in good condition from the start (against Djokovic), I served pretty well. I was pretty aggressive, it's something positive for me," said the 29-year-old.
Two-time Canadian champion Murray leads Tsonga 9-1 in head-to-head meetings with the Frenchman's sole victory over the Briton coming back at the 2008 Australian Open.
If Murray were to come through he could face a rematch of the Wimbledon quarter-final against Grigor Dimitrov. The Bulgarian seventh seed comes up against Stan Wawrinka's conqueror Kevin Anderson from South Africa in the last eight.
In the other half of the draw, sixth-seeded Milos Raonic, the last Canadian standing, will hope to keep hopes of a home grown winner alive when he takes on Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, a three set winner over Czech fourth seed Tomas Berdych.
The winner of that will come up against the winner of the final quarter-final tussle between fifth seed David Ferrer and favourite Roger Federer, who celebrated his 33rd birthday by battling past Croatian Marin Cilic on his seventh match point.
Watch Andy Murray v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga live on Sky Sports 3 from 6pm on Friday.
