Gasquet: Crowd played part

Gasquet was two sets and 5-4 up serving for the match but Murray, fired up as he built a fighting rapport with a crowd desperate for a British Wimbledon champion, came back to win 5-7 3-6 7-6 6-2 6-4 and earn a quarter-final against Rafael Nadal.

"It was maybe a Davis Cup match," Gasquet said. "Anywhere else two sets up and a break up I would have won, but here he had the crowd," he said.

"So I'm waiting for him at Roland Garros," Gasquet said with a grin.

"I'm sure he fought more because he was in Wimbledon, so it was maybe the key. He played with the crowd. It was difficult for me when I lost the third (set in a tiebreak).

"But in the fourth and the fifth he served and returned better than me...The crowd was for him, that's natural. But it helped Andy a lot."

Gasquet said there was not much between the players in the deciding set but Murray, seeded 12th, was keen to finish before the match was suspended due to fading light on Centre Court.

"He wanted to finish come what may," said the eighth seed. Gasquet did not want to use the fading light as an excuse, though, saying it was the same for both players.

"I understand they wanted to finish the match because it's better for Wimbledon...but that's not an excuse. He won the match, he played well, he fought a lot."

Gasquet likened Murray's game to that of 35-year-old Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, whom the Briton beat in the first round.

"He's maybe the Fabrice of modern times, but faster, and with a bigger serve," Gasquet said.

"I practice a lot with Fabrice Santoro. He's the same, he does a lot of drop shots."

Gasquet said Murray's clever play on grass could help him produce an upset in his quarter-final against second seed Nadal, the French Open champion.

"With Nadal, you have to play more to the net, be more aggressive, more powerful, but (Murray) is a good player on grass, he has good feeling for the game, he's really clever.

"If he serves well, you never know but in three sets, Nadal is the favourite."

Murray had not witnessed the type of adoration the now retired Tim Henman inspired at the All England Club but after watching the Scot pull back from the brink of defeat, the fans seemed converted.

"You know, the crowd were awesome," said Murray. "After that, the whole tie-break, the fourth and fifth sets, once I got ahead ... they got behind me, I mean, more than they ever have before."

After sailing through the third set tie-break, in which he unleashed a killer backhand that had both him and the fans screaming, Murray said the thousands cheering and jumping to their feet in the stands had helped him build on the momentum.

"I think to finish the set like that really got the crowd going. It shifted the momentum hugely, and I think his head went down a little bit for a few games after that shot (the backhand)," Murray said between mouthfuls of sushi eaten expertly with chopsticks.

Henman had his fair share of dramatic matches at the grasscourt grand slam, including five setters against Goran Ivanisevic in the 2001 semi-final (which he eventually lost) and Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the 1996 first round (which he won).

Murray celebrated winning Monday's match by flexing his muscles, a gesture he said was to show his fitness trainers how much he had been working out.

"I've been putting in so much work off the court, you know, that it was the first time this year I've really had the chance to show it," the 21-year-old said.

"I just wanted to show that ... there is some muscle there."