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It is the midway point of Australian Open 2010. This is where those with serious ambitions to the title start to batten down the hatches and adopt their championship face (this being considerably more serious than their normal game face). The pressure is mounting by the hour.

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For Andy Murray, the second week at Melbourne Park is a new experience – he has only ever reached the fourth round before – and as he surveys the draw, he can see several large and imposing obstacles standing between him and the final.

The first of those hurdles was safely negotiated at Rod Laver Arena on Sunday as Murray came through his first Jim Courier interview. “The good news is that you’re in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open,” Courier said cheerfully after Scotland’s finest had squashed John Isner 7-6(4) 6-3 6-2. “The bad news is that you get to talk to me.”

As is his wont, Murray had done his homework. He is meticulous in his planning, is the Muzz, and no stone is left unturned as he searches for his first Grand Slam title. Everything, from the number of pieces of sushi he eats to the seconds of rest he takes between his track training sessions, is calculated to make sure that he is in perfect physical, mental and technical shape to win a major trophy.

“I’ve been watching and your interviews have been a bit unpredictable,” Murray said cautiously. “It’s tough because I don’t know what to expect. Something personal, that’s for sure.”

That was Murray’s first mistake. Actually, it was his only real mistake of the day – in beating Isner, he had only committed eight unforced errors in three sets over more than two hours, which is not a bad stat by anybody’s standards. Mentioning personal matters to Courier is like offering cream to a cat (or, indeed, free beer to a journalist) – he laps it up. “Share something personal about yourself,” Courier demanded, leaving Scotland’s finest speechless. Murray thought for a moment. Nope, he couldn’t think of anything. Then he thought some more. Still no inspiration. “This, right here, just proves how boring I am,” he said finally.

And when it comes to tennis, Murray can be pretty boring. Away from the day job, he is bright, funny and entertaining, but when he is at work, he is utterly immersed in the search for perfection. Even Laura Robson, who partnered Murray at the Hopman Cup, is amazed by the Scot’s relentless professionalism and, in a wonderful moment of indiscretion, revealed that on a quiet night, Murray will happily spend his time alone in his hotel room doing core exercises. “We thought he was joking, so we asked Jez [Murray’s fitness trainer] and Jez was like “no, he’s just weird”,” Robson said sweetly.

Weird or not, it works. He has now reached the last eight here without dropping a set, and was in sparkling form as he swept past Isner. As one of the best returners in the game, the big American’s serve provided an interesting challenge – and Murray rose to it immediately. Isner had also promised that he would attack the net and force the Scot to pass him. So Murray passed him on the forehand side - and then passed him on the backhand side.

It was not that Isner was playing badly – 14 aces and a 68 per cent accuracy on his first serve suggested he was playing rather well. It was just that Murray was not offering him any weaknesses at all. He was moving like a thoroughbred on castors, chasing everything down and creating some stunning winners from thin air. The running backhand pass that he clattered down the line from the furthest reaches of the back court to break Isner in the third set was a real stunner – even Murray liked that one. “It's just instinct,” he said with a shrug, as if anyone could do it.

Murray claimed that his primary goal here was to reach the fourth round and match his best result in Melbourne. But now that he has done that and more, there is a look in his eye that suggests he has set himself a much, much bigger target.

“I'm playing well,” he said. “No question about that. I just need to play like I have been, and maybe a bit more, if I want to win the tournament.”

All he needs to do now is to perfect his Jim Courier interview technique and his trip to Australia will be complete.