Andy Murray will put friendship aside on Centre Court today in a bid to continue his ruthless quest to reach the Wimbledon final.

Murray is pitched against Stanislas Wawrinka – one of his biggest pals on the tennis tour – in the fourth round.

But while they practise regularly together, Murray admits the Swiss No 2 will be just another enemy to dispatch as clinically as possible.

The Scot said: "It doesn't change anything for me. When you go to the court you're there to compete, regardless of whether you're friends or not.

"You kind of know each other's games a little bit better than you might know some of the others that you don't hit with, but it won't make a difference."

The pair played in the fourth round of the US Open last year in a night match which Murray dominated, winning in straight sets.

The 24-year-old from Lausanne broke into the top 10 in the world rankings last year, although currently he resides at number 18. He also won the gold medal in the doubles, playing with Roger Federer, at the Beijing Olympics.

As such he represents a significant step up in class for Murray, who dropped a nervy set in his first-round victory against American Robert Kendrick but who since then has been in imperious form in defeating Latvia's Ernests Gulbis and Serbia's Viktor Troicki.

Murray continues to spout the mantra that it is getting through which is important, saying: "I didn't care how badly or how well I played."

But his serving has been acclaimed by John McEnroe as never having been better.

Murray admitted: "I've served very well so far. Against tougher opposition that's going to be even more important. I think I'm able to raise my game to the quality of the opposition and the sort of situation.

"He's (Wawrinka) a very solid all-court player. He's got a solid serve, moves well, is good off the baseline. He doesn't come to the net too much but he won the Olympic gold doubles so he can obviously volley reasonably well.

"He does everything good. He doesn't have one shot in particular that's a huge weakness. I'm going to have to play a tough match to beat him."