Andy Murray's momentum for the title is building nicely as he heads into the second week of the Australian Open.
The 21-year-old Scot overcame illness to thrash Jurgen Melzer 7-5 6-0 6-3 in Melbourne on Saturday and now faces another left-hander in Spain's Fernando Verdasco, who had a similarly comprehensive 6-4 6-0 6-0 win over a lacklustre Radek Stepanek.
The world number four, chasing a maiden grand slam title, has not dropped a set so far after an aborted first round against Andrei Pavel - when the Romanian retired with a back problem - and a comfortable 6-4 6-2 6-2 victory against Marcel Granollers.
After that win, Murray spent Friday in bed with a headache and sore throat but you would never have known, such was his utter dominance over Melzer on Saturday.
The British number one's triumph over the Austrian stretched his winning run against left-handers to 21 matches.
The only left-handed player he has lost to is Rafael Nadal - the current world number one, top seed in Melbourne, and the man he is on a collision course to meet in the semi-finals.
As for Verdasco, who is ranked 15 in the world, Murray has beaten him five times - the first win coming in the second round at the Australian Open in 2007 and the last at the ATP Master Series tournament in Paris last year.
"Against Verdasco, it's very important to use my head. I have a very good record against left-handers. The only one I've lost to on the tour has been Nadal," Murray said.
"I need to use my head, make him (Verdasco) do a lot of thinking and moving. If I play like I did (against Melzer), I can definitely win that one."
Verdasco has been in scintillating form, dropping just 12 games in his three matches to date.
His confidence has been sky-high since playing a leading role in helping Spain - minus Nadal who was unavailable because of tendonitis in his right knee - win the Davis Cup against Argentina last November.
He partnered Feliciano Lopez to victory in the doubles and then overturned a two-sets-to-one deficit against Jose Acasuso to triumph and clinch the trophy.
He spent time in the off-season with Andre Agassi's former fitness guru Gil Reyes in Las Vegas and has hit the ground running, reaching the final in the warm-up event in Brisbane, where he lost to Stepanek, and rattling up the wins against Adrian Mannarino, Arnaud Clement and Stepanek in Melbourne.
He believes the closest he has come to feeling as good as he does at the moment was during last year's Wimbledon where he defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber, Olivier Rochus and Tomas Berdych before bowing out to Mario Ancic in an epic five-setter in the fourth round.
"Right now I think I'm feeling physically and mentally stronger than last year in Wimbledon," the 14th seed said.
"This pre-season for me, it was a really, really big change. I think I improved a lot in the two weeks I was with Gil Reyes in Las Vegas. I think after these two weeks I realised much more how I can play and how I can be a harder player for the other players to play."
Beating Murray in his current form however, is going to take something special from the Spaniard.
"He's a very good player, so complete in all the aspects in the game. He serves good. He has an unbelievable backhand. I think physically he's one of the best right now also. He has good hands also for the slice, to defend. So he's pretty complete in all the aspects of the game," said the 25-year-old.
"But, you know, I think I need to play my game anyway and try to beat him like this. I won't change my game because he's one player, you know, one kind of player. I'm feeling pretty good."
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