Andy Murray vs. Ivo Karlovic: Score and Reaction from 2015 Wimbledon

Andy Murray took his spot in the quarter-finals of this year's Wimbledon competition on Monday after lobbing his way to a 7-6(7), 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Ivo Karlovic.

The Scot will now face off against Canadian contender Vasek Pospisil in the last eight of the 2015 tournament and try to advance to the semis for the sixth time in his career. The Press Association confirmed Monday's four-set victory:

As has been the case for much of this year's competition so far, Karlovic utilised his advantage at the serve to assert some early dominance, while Murray attempted to find his rhythm in the ground game.

The 6'10" frame of Karlovic would be difficult to suppress, however, as Bet365 provided details of just how imperious the Croatian behemoth was proving to be at Wimbledon:

The pair battled back and forth in their bids to see who would blink first and concede the first break, with Murray staying just ahead after the first five games with a 3-2 lead.

Karlovic showed there was more to his play than just a simple serve, however, and Murray found himself stretched when his foe was permitted to descend upon the net and push him onto the back foot.

Carl Court/Getty Images

Stuck to the baseline, Murray was forced to pull off some terrifically weighted shots with a wonderfully whipped forehand and no small share of well-executed lobs to lead 6-5 in the opening set.

The latter in particular proved useful to Murray as he chipped his way to a 40-0 lead, but he couldn't hold out, as Karlovic forced the tiebreaker, leaving tennis writer Chris Goldsmith in awe of both duelists:

The battle was excruciatingly close as Karlovic continued to reign in his pockets of play while Murray governed his until the No. 23 seed eventually swerving a decisive return wide to lose the tiebreak 9-7.

Murray let out a roar upon claiming a crucial set advantage, with the Guardian's Daniel Harris quoting former professional Wayne Ferreira as outlining the importance of his early start:

Murray's serve had to be adjusted in order to contend with Karlovic, but he ran the risk of slowing it down too much in pursuit of accuracy and allowing a more advantageous return.

It was a tactic that paid dividends, however, as he opened the second set by breaking his foe's serve before withstanding a late assault to go two games ahead. Daniel Storey of Football365 noted Murray's knack to capitalise upon the smallest of openings:

Karlovic's height proved to work against him at times, as Murray began pushing balls toward his feet, where the Croatian struggled to get down in time to respond in as threatening a manner.

Following the victory, Murray touched on the importance of working Karlovic's wingspan and preventing his opponent from getting up close and personal, which is when he started to look dangerous, per BBC Sport:

The first set may have shown growing pains, but Murray proved he had acclimated to the task at hand with a 4-2 lead in the second, successfully altering his tactics and now firmly in the ascendancy.

Goldsmith depicted Karlovic's prolific form from the serve, bringing his ace tally up to the 150 mark in just his fourth game of the tournament, although it would count for little as he slipped to a 6-4 defeat in the second set:

Karlovic continued to fight even at two sets down, but Murray's clear supremacy in the ground strokes kept him in control of the tie, picking out sensational shots here and there to haul in his point advantages.

Again, the two endured a tug of war, and Murray unearthed another break-point opportunity in the seventh game of the third set, but it was Karlovic who would once more fight back to claim the 4-3 lead.

Murray had his chances to break, but his opponent deserved credit for taking the tie to a fourth set, leaning heavily on the serving form that got him to this stage, holding his enemy at distance.

After going from a potential straight-sets win to giving up his own break and losing the third, Murray vented his frustrations on a fresh racket, per the London Evening Standard's Chris Jones:

It was only the second set Murray has conceded at Wimbledon this year, but a straight-sets victory would have assuredly been more beneficial to morale, not to mention reserving stamina moving ahead in the contest.

The fourth set told a similar tale, as Murray searched to break Karlovic's serve and put an end to a fixture that long seemed destined to end in his favour.

Alastair Grant/Associated Press

And Karlovic stood firm in his effort to draw level on sets, but he was left in disbelief when a Murray challenge saw him drop serve for just the second time in the fixture and surrender a 4-3 lead to his superior.

After almost three hours of play, Murray found another elusive two-game cushion and produced a series of inspired net shots to assume the 5-3 advantage and edge within inches of victory. 

Alastair Grant/Associated Press

The flair came on at the last hurdle, too, as Murray once again utilised the lob that had proved so successful against the tactics of Karlovic, whom he was out to break for a final time before sealing his win.

Karlovic would live to fight another day, as he avoided a second break, but he would again commit an unforced error to give Murray his berth in the last eight, with the giant eventually falling away. Ben Coles of Planet Rugby noted the strength of the victor's lob en route to the win:

Murray's quarter-final opponent, Pospisil, endured a tiring five-set thriller against Viktor Troicki earlier on Monday and came back from two sets down to claim a 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 win.

From that, one can glean the unseeded upstart will be a determined figure in his battle to subvert the odds and extend his best-ever run at Wimbledon with a beating of Murray.

Just as Pospisil had to be patient in the run-up to his comeback result, 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash told BBC Radio 5Live how important Monday's match was for Murray in biding his time:

After suffering a surprise straight-sets defeat to Grigor Dimitrov in last year's quarters, the 2013 champion will be all the more wary of taking his opponent for granted this time around.

Despite Karlovic's obvious strengths, Murray persevered to take down a daunting opponent on Monday, but he must rally in swift fashion in his bid to challenge for a second Wimbledon crown.