ANDY Murray will make a surprise appearance at Wimbledon after all this year. After a stint as studio pundit today, Scotland’s former World No 1 will make his TV commentary debut for the BBC tomorrow, on men’s quarter final day.

As much as he would prefer to be doing his talking on the court, you could say the 31-year-old’s timing is perfect. He could hardly have hand-picked a better running order.

That Roger Federer should be the first man to book his place in the last eight came as a surprise to nobody, even if poor Adrian Mannarino must have hoped to detain the great man a while longer. The first set passed in a flash for this 30-year-old Frenchman.

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The No 22 seed was permitted just five points in all as he found himself bagelled, 6-0, in that first set in just 16 minutes. The boffins at the All England Club reckoned that this was the joint second-fastest ever set, lasting just two minutes longer than a second round set of his own against Alejandro Falla of Colombia in 2004 and the first set of the Arnaud Clement v Oliver Rochus back in 2002.

While red hot Federer cooled off in sets two and three, even against an opponent who appeared to be troubled by a groin complaint, he still got the job done in regulation.

His 16th Wimbledon quarter final arrived courtesy of a 6-0, 7-5, 6-4 win, one which means he arrives her once more without conceding his serve, let alone a set. Having recorded a perfect campaign here 12 months ago, that means he has now won 32 consecutive sets at SW19. Two more and he will have equalled his own record from 2005-06.

Federer was in good form in the press room afterwards too, joking that it is Fifa who should be worried about a potential clash between Sunday’s men’s final – which gets under way in its time honoured 2pm slot – and the World Cup final, which kicks off at 4pm.

If England make the match, keeping the score quiet inside Centre Court seems unlikely. But if the final turns out to be a re-run of that epic 2008 final between him and Rafa Nadal, he might not be too wide of the mark.

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“Well, it’s going to happen anyway, if I’m going in the final or not, the Wimbledon final will take place, and so will the World Cup final,” said Federer, who first faces giant South African Kevin Anderson, the conqueror of Gael Monfils. “I’m more concerned that the World Cup final will have issues because the Wimbledon final is going on! They’ll hear every point, Wow, Love-15, 15-30. The players are going to look up in the crowd and not understand what’s going on at Wimbledon. That’s how important Wimbledon is to me and to us over here. Maybe you should ask the questions over in Russia, how they’re going to feel about Wimbledon being played at the same time.”

A relaxed Roger said he have been “equally happy if he would have won all the matches in four sets” and didn’t intend to waste too much time over-analysing why a seeded player like Mannarino couldn’t stop him winning that first set in 16 minutes. “Sure, I was also surprised it was that fast, that first set, especially 16 minutes, that was too fast,” he said. “Shouldn’t really happen, but thankfully they do for me. I probably won’t have another 6-0 set this week, so I’ll enjoy this one. I was more telling myself why didn’t I break the first game of the second set, you know.”

If reaching SW19 quarter finals is routine for Roger, it is noticeably more of a chore for Rafa. The Spaniard will play his first last eight match at Wimbledon since 2011 after keeping big-serving Czech Jiri Vesely at arms’ length in a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 win. He too has yet to drop a set, even if he would rather not face Roger on World Cup final day next Sunday.

“If he’s in the final, I am excited to play Roger,” said Rafa. “I am not saying I am not excited to play against Roger in the final. I am excited. It will be a good result for me. Facing Roger again will be something fantastic. But if you ask me if I prefer another one, I say yes. That’s the point. It’s about being smart, no?”

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Nadal’s quarter final is yet unknown, with Juan Martin del Potro leading Gilles Simon of France by two sets to one when play was stopped for bad light last night, but 12-time major winner Novak Djokovic still lurks in his half of the draw. The Serb, who complained about catcalls from the Centre Court crowd in his meeting against home favourite Kyle Edmund, was feted on Court No 1 as he came through a potentially tricky meeting with emerging Russian Karen Khachanov by a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 score. Making light of an awkward slip early in the match, he now faces Japan’s Kei Nishikori in what promises to be another high-quality Wednesday match-up.

“It was great, I enjoyed it out there,” said Djokovic. “We [Nishikori] have played a couple of times this year on clay. I think he reached his first quarter final here at Wimbledon but he has been established top player for many years, he has proven he can be a contender for the biggest prizes in our sport.”

There is a growing consensus that the hard, sun-baked conditions are favouring the big servers this year, with Milos Raonic and John Isner the case in point. Victors gainst Mackenzie MacDonald and Stefanos Tsitsipas respectively, the Canadian and the American will serve out an attritional contest for the sole remaining place in the last four.