Murray wary of Gonzalez forehand

A forehand considered the biggest in tennis stands between Andy Murray and a place in the French Open semi-finals.

Fernando Gonzalez, Murray's opponent tomorrow in the last eight, has this tournament shrugged off his mercurial image and is playing at a consistently high level.

And then he has his killer weapon, his forehand, which is really firing and was the main source of his 50 winners in his fourth-round rout of 30th seed Victor Hanescu in straight sets.

Murray knows all about the Chilean 12th seed - he practised with him last week - and the British number one realises he could be left with egg on his face if he leaves Gonzalez easy, mid-court ball.

"Playing against him in practice is not necessarily the same as playing against him in matches," said the Scot, who has a 1-1 record against the South American.

"He's very unpredictable which makes it tough to play against him.

"I have to play a very consistent match and keep the ball deep. You don't want to leave the ball in the middle of the court against him. He's got a huge forehand."

Gonzalez has a number of nicknames, one of which is 'Mano de Piedra'.

"He was a boxer from Panama," the 28-year-old explained.

"When he hit with his right, it was usually a knockout."

The beleaguered Hanescu can testify to that.

"It's very fast, very high. You don't have time (to react to it) - maybe Nadal could," said the Romanian.

"If he's hitting it very hard, it's tough to stay in the game."

Murray will of course be wary of that forehand of Gonzalez, who has yet to drop a set at this year's Roland Garros.

But there is mutual respect between the two players, considering the Briton's excellent form on the Parisian clay this past week.

"Murray is number three in the world and he deserves it," said Gonzalez.

Click here to view pictures of Day 9 in the French Open.

Murray has found his feet on the dirt and yesterday became the third British man, after Roger Taylor and Tim Henman, to make the quarter-finals here in the Open era.

He was far too consistent for Croatia's Marin Cilic, the 13th seed, who made mistakes on both wings deep in rallies that Murray fed off. Indeed Murray made just 14 unforced errors all match.

The tenacious 22-year-old's battling qualities are proving to be invaluable in his march into the business end of the tournament.

"It's tough to get really easy points from him. You always need to work to win a point," said Cilic.

"He's playing consistently in the big tournaments so that makes him stronger in key situations."

Gonzalez beat Murray in Basel in 2005 but in their second and most recent meeting - in the third round of the US Open in 2006 - the Scot turned the tables as he came back from two sets to one down.

Eight of Gonzalez's 11 career titles have come on clay, the latest coming earlier this year in Vina del Mar. He won the boys' singles at the French Open in 1998 too, so he has pedigree on the terre battue.

"It will be very tough," said Murray.

"He loves playing on clay. He's won all of his matches very easily so far."