Breaks were exchanged at the start of the second set. There was a palpable sense, that Lacko was starting to realise raw aggression was his best chance of hurting Murray. Even this gung-ho style of play wasn't yielding much success, and Murray broke once more to regain control of the match. The fourth seed was evidently not in top form, but was being clinical enough to ensure minimal court time. A blistering service hold was more than enough to get Murray to a two set advantage.

Lacko has never recovered from a two set deficit, and by the start of the third set, there was little self-belief flowing within the Slovak. Murray was in cruise control, and despite Lacko making some inroads, the Briton always looked comfortable and aggressive at the right moments to stave Lacko off. Murray broke serve to fifteen, and then held to ease through.

All in all, it was a pleasing match for the Murray camp, a match with plenty of different and lengthy rallies, allowing Murray to fine-tune certain components of his game, without expending too much energy, in temperatures pushing over one hundred degrees.

Another positive piece of news reached Murray in the form of Tomas Berdych crashing to defeat, in straight sets. The Czech has had a superb 2010 season, and looked likely to be a potential opponent in the quarter-finals, but was not able to overcome the tricky Michael Llodra.

Favourites: Federer, Nadal, Murray

Outsiders: Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko,

Dark Horses: Robin Soderling, Tomas Berdych, Mardy Fish, Andy Roddick

Looking for an upset: Sergiy Stakhovsky, Ernests Gulbis, John Isner, Sam Querrey

James

Despite the wave of optimism that we invariably witness in the days preceding a hardcourt major, the eternal pessimist in me will believe Andy Murray can win the US Open the moment he holds the trophy aloft, and not a moment sooner. That is not to say that there is no cause for optimism. Murray's recent return to form, coupled with a more aggressive approach, means that he is likely good value for his standing amongst the favourites heading into the last major of the year.

The two major stumbling blocks for the Scot come in the form of Querrey and Berdych, both of whom hold recent victories over the world number 4. Should Murray clear those hurdles, I expect another Federer-Murray showdown in the final. Unfortunately, I expect the Swiss to come out on top again, albeit in a much tighter affair.

My pick: Federer

Upset of the tournament: Nadal to lose before the semi-finals.

Darkhorse of the tournament: Mardy Fish.

I have never seen Andy Murray play more positive and aggressive tennis than in Toronto. He did not rely on defence and it is so much more economical to play offensive tennis.

By nature he likes to play defensive, he can weave tangled webs and get out of it, but it's so much more enjoyable and fun to play offensive and win offensive and that's what he's doing and that's what he needs to do to win majors.

Gilbert made additional comments about Murray in a radio interview with the BBC, you can listen to that here.

There appeared to be a bit of needle between the two at the start of the contest, as they exchanged words at the net. Fish came out serving well, rarely giving Murray an opportunity to build any momentum. The world number 4 was similarly stingy on serve, despite a characteristically horrific first serve percentage.

The pair traded comfortable holds until 5-5, at which point the Scot both created and squandered multiple opportunties to break. The eventual tiebreak and its outcome appeared to be equally inevitable, yet despite Murray's less than stellar record in breakers this year, he somehow managed to edge out the American to clinch the first set.

It was at this point that the tide turned, however. Upon reentering the arena after a toilet break, Murray was hit with, in his own words, "a wall of heat". He suddenly began to struggle physically and was attended to by the ATP trainer on several occasions throughout what turned out to be a lopsided second set, which the American took 6-1.

Murray dug his heels in at the start of the third set and attempted to make a contest of it. Despite shuffling around like a zombie between points, the world number 4 managed to force a tiebreak. At one point Murray looked like he might pull off an unlikely win, as he raced to a 4-2 lead. Unfortunately, Fish benefited from a poor line call and pulled back the mini break. Buoyed by this, the American rallied to win 4 of the next 5 points to beat Murray for the third time this year.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brI1gJ_h-Yw" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brI1gJ_h-Yw</a>

Britain's number one was missing the awe-inspiring repertoire of tricks and aggressive swagger that flowed through his veins in Toronto. Routine mid-court forehands were being dumped into the net, and halfway through the second set, Murray was staring right down the barrel of a straight sets defeat.

After seemingly berating himself verbally and punching his solar plexus for the 100th time, the Briton finally sparked into life somewhat, and managed to pressure Gulbis into some much sought after errors. The Latvian had been playing some stellar tennis, and Murray could consider himself somewhat fortunate to grab the second set.

Murray carved out a lead in the final set, but frustratingly, it was handed back immediately, and as the set grew older, Gulbis took the ascendancy, holding more comfortably as his more illustrious opponent struggled to fend off break points. Murray's groundstrokes were functioning rather poorly, but there was no question that his dogmatic attitude and will to win was carrying him through to the tie-break.

And, with the tie-break came the surprisingly predictable renaissance from Murray. He upped the length on his groundstrokes and remained watertight to build a 6-1 lead, and after a few loose points, sealed the victory, and a hard fought victory at that.

The American wild-card, Mardy Fish will await Murray in the quarter-finals. Fish disposed of Richard Gasquet earlier today in straight sets.

Both players seemed to be troubled more by the sun than each other and more hideous play ensued. Murray seemed to be content to roll in second serves and wait for an error. Chardy was happy to hit his forehand into the tramlines. Breaks were swapped until 5-4, with Murray attempting to serve for the match. Despite holding a match point, he failed and the score advanced to 5-5. After six straight breaks of serve, it was inevitable that someone would finally hold. Chardy was the lucky recipient of this honour – the Frenchman clinging on to take the set to 6-5. Murray eventually followed to drag the set, kicking and screaming, into a tiebreak.

The Scot has an atrocious tiebreak record this year – before this set he had lost 9 and won 5. Rather unsurprisingly, ten points later the statistic stood at 10 lost, 5 won. The third set was marginally better from Murray and he broke twice to take the set and the match 6-2.

There's an old saying that any victory is a worthwhile one, but this match really was scraping the barrel.

Next up is Ernest Gulbis, who Murray will presumably bother to show up against.