VASEK POSPISIL is a man with a plan.

The Canadian brings a book of hand-written scribbles on court with him every time he plays, and whether it is new-age psychobabble or detailed tactical analysis, it doesn't seem to be doing him much harm.

This 25-year-old, whose parents fled Communist Czechoslovakia only for Vasek to return to the Czech Republic as a teenager when learning the sport, has reached his maiden grand slam quarter-final, and three times this tournament already has prevailed in five-set matches - including one out on Court No.1 against home favourite James Ward. No wonder then that this big-serving, 6ft 4in player is disinclined to listen to those who feel he has no chance against Murray, a player who has won all three of their previous meetings without the loss of a set. As for the contents of that little book, they will remain highly classified.

"It's a secret," said Pospisil. "I have been looking at the same page for the matches, but the book is getting filled up a little bit. Honestly, it is just reminders and pointers, things I should be looking at during the match, so that will change a little bit match to match.

"I have been working to be more clutch [mentally strong at key moments]," he added. "I feel like I'm stepping up my game and I'm more ambitious than ever right now. I feel like my results this week have showed that so far."

Winning one match in five sets is impressive enough, making his way past Vincent Millot, Ward, then coming from two sets-to-love down to defeat No.22 seed Viktor Troicki is something else entirely. Win one more singles match over this distance and he would become only the fifth man in the Open era to do so, and he so nearly did have another five-set victory on his resume this fortnight, fighting back from two sets down before going down 8-6 in the fifth, his 10th set of the day on Monday, with American Jack Sock, to Jamie Murray and his Australian partner John Peers in the doubles.

There is a question about how mentally and physically tired he will be after it all, but Pospisil is a young man who will have had around 40 hours to recover. "Obviously I played a lot of tennis but one day recovery is a lot," said Pospisil. "I can do a lot of recovery and stuff then come out strong on Wednesday and take it to him."

The last time Pospisil was walking off Centre Court he was doing so with a beaming smile on his face and a trophy in his hand. That was on finals day last summer, when he and doubles partner Sock lifted the men's doubles title here.

"I had one Centre Court experience, and it was a great one," recalled Pospisil. "I'm looking forward to going out there again, and giving it my best for sure. I realise it's going to be a tough feat to accomplish, to beat Andy here at Wimbledon, his home court. But I will try and take the positive memories of last year and my good form this past week.

"It doesn't really faze me too much playing in front of crowds that are against me," he added. "I like playing in front of big crowds, in general. It doesn't matter if they are against me or cheering for me. Obviously I'd prefer they are on my side, but, you know, I tend to play well in those kind of situations. He's one of the 'big four', as they say. He's had great results here over the years. But I'm serving well, I'm playing well, I just have to go out there and play to the best of my abilities. And that's what I plan on doing.

"I'm more experienced now, I turned 25 a couple weeks ago, and I'm more and more comfortable now playing best of five matches. I know how to manage it better, I think. That was something that I was struggling with in previous years. I think I have really just kind of figured that out, how to kind of go about long matches like this.

"The guy has got game," said Jamie Murray, who did so much to soften him up. "He has got some big shots, likes to come forward which obviously works well on grass. He volleys well once he is up there and he is an athletic guy, too. I am sure he will cause Andy problems but Andy is going to be big favourite."

The Canadian is the outsider in a men's quarter final line-up which contains both the familiar and the fresh. Gilles Simon and Richard Gasquet, two members of the France squad which will take on Great Britain in Davis Cup duty, take on Swiss big-hitters Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka respectively, while Marin Cilic faces a Balkan battle against world No.1 Novak Djokovic.