Gritty Murray moves into quarters at Queen's

World number four Andy Murray ignored the pain of his ankle injury to reach the quarter-finals at Queen's with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) win over Serbian 14th seed Janko Tipsarevic on Thursday.

After edging past Xavier Malisse in the second round, Murray spent much of his post-match press conference delivering a prolonged assessment of the risks of playing with the ankle problem that has plagued him since the French Open.

He conceded that the recovery time for the ligament and tendon damage he sustained in Paris means he should really be resting this week, but a desire to get plenty of time on grass before Wimbledon has forced him to ignore his discomfort.

The 24-year-old, once again wearing a brace on his troublesome right ankle and moving cautiously at times, did a reasonable job of disguising the pain as he secured a last eight match against Marin Cilic or Thomaz Bellucci.

"It was a high-quality match. We both played well, especially at the end of the second set. It was a big test," Murray said. "The ankle was the best it's felt today."

In the circumstances, it was hardly surprising Murray looked a little sluggish as he allowed Tipsarevic to break in the opening game of the first set.

But, although Tipsarevic has more than enough ability to hold his own against the best -- he beat Murray here in 2006 -- his temperament is rather less durable.

Murray benefitted from that erractic nature as a careless double-fault brought up three break points, with the Scot taking the second thanks to a fortunate deflection off the net to level at 3-3.

With Murray 5-4 up, a heavy shower delayed play for an hour. The interval did little to improve Tipsarevic's focus as a wild forehand on break point presented the first set to Murray.

Murray let his own concentration slip at the start of the second set and Tipsarevic broke immediately with a piercing return of serve.

Even so, there was no sign of Murray letting the injury wear him down and he kept the pressure on, forcing Tipsarevic into another extravagant mistake as he missed a forehand that gifted a break back for 4-4.

A tie-break was needed to settle the set and Murray found the winning formula as a couple of sublime ground-strokes finished off Tipsarevic.

Elsewhere in the third round of the Wimbledon warm-up, Andy Roddick remained in the hunt for a record fifth Queen's crown with a 6-4, 6-4 win over South Africa's Kevin Anderson.

Since his last Queen's triumph back in 2007, Roddick has been trying to break the record for most singles' titles at the Wimbledon warm-up event which he currently shares with six other players including John McEnroe, Boris Becker and Lleyton Hewitt.

The American third seed, a three-time Wimbledon finalist, thrives on the lush lawns of west London and he did just enough to see off 15th seed Anderson and set up a last eight clash against Fernando Verdasco, who defeated David Nalbandian 7-5, 6-1.

"There are a lot of times when he hits his first serve in a good spot and you're rendered a little helpless. Thankfully I was just able to get my teeth into a couple of games and convert the break points," Roddick said.

French fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga enjoyed an easier than expected path to the last eight as his compatriot Michael Llodra was forced to quit at 4-3 down in the first set due to an upper leg problem.

Gilles Simon, the French sixth seed, also had to pull out when trailing 3-0 in the final set of his rain-delayed second round match against Adrian Mannarino after struggling with a back injury.