"A lot of young players can play well for a few weeks and then they'll have a few bad weeks, but I've kept it up. Since Wimbledon, I've won at least three matches in every tournament, which is a really good record. "I'm so excited now because I think my serve can get much better, my movement can get better, I can get fitter, I can improve my volleys, my slice Mentally I can get stronger. "If I've got so many things to work on and things that can get better, then I can't wait to work on all those things with Brad." Elsewhere, Roger Federer maintained his record of not dropping a set when he beat France's Marc Gicquel Davydenko now plays Tommy Haas, who beat Marat Safin. Murray said that the two remaining Masters series tournaments, in Paris and Madrid, would be key targets, particularly if Federer or Rafael Nadal misses either of them. He also said that he had not given up hope of making the eight-strong field for the end-of-season finale, the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai. "I'm not going to walk away from this tournament with negative thoughts, " he said "This has been the best summer of my life.

I've always said you can play a couple of bad sets, but that's the thing, with age and experience, you get better at. In 18 matches under the 45-year-old American, Murray has beaten Roger Federer, lost on only four occasions, played in the last 16 of the US Open for the first time, reached the semi-finals and quarter-finals of two Masters series tournaments and made the final of another. Having climbed to No 19 in the world rankings, the Scot expects to move up two more places next week. He does not have many points to defend between now and Wimbledon next year, which will give him the chance to climb higher.

"I normally sleep late and wake up late, so it was a bit different for me going to sleep at 10 o'clock and getting up early," Murray said "He [Davydenko] started better than me both days "That's something that I have to learn from. And when it happens next time, I may have to try to do things a bit different to get myself ready I'm not used to going on at 11 in matches. Maybe I need to practise at 9 o'clock in my practice weeks to try and get ready for matches like this." Despite failing to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final, Murray was far from downhearted. He has had a fine summer and the two-month-old partnership with Gilbert is already paying dividends.