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Andy Murray battled into the quarter-finals of the Madrid Masters with an impressive 7-5 7-6 (2) victory over Croatia's Marin Cilic.

The world number four put up a wonderful defensive display to counter the hard-hitting 20-year-old and advance to the last eight in his first tournament since reaching the final of the US Open last month.

Despite conceding the early break of serve in the third game, a tenacious showing from the baseline helped Murray to hold off the aggressive Cilic for the rest of the opening set.

At 5-4 down, the 21-year-old Scot saved three set points and then broke back with a scintillating backhand pass, letting out a ferocious roar of approval.

He wrapped up a fine opening set comeback by pressing the Croatian into a pair of errors to break serve in the 12th and claim his fourth straight game.

Cilic held his opening service game of the second set to return to the scoreboard and Murray responded in kind, but there was a frightening moment for the British number one when he pulled up on game point clutching his knee.

Murray later attributed the pain to the peculiarities of the Madrid hardcourt and seemed to recover fully, breaking serve for the 5-3 lead in the eighth game.

"As long as the pain is bearable, I'm ready to play," said the US Open finalist. "It was maybe the fourth point of the match. He hit to my backhand and I felt the knee.

"I felt sore for most of the first set. I've had this problem a lot during the years. I'll have to wait and see. The important this is to make sure I deal with it properly after the match."

But bizarrely the US Open runner-up failed to realise he was serving for the match, thinking the score was only 4-2, and he conceded the immediate break back after some fine attacking play by Cilic.

"I didn't even realise the score at the end of the match, I didn't realise I was serving for it," Murray said after the victory. "That's the first time that happened to me on Tour."

The Scot was able to recover, however, dominating a tie-break from the outset to set up a quarter-final duel with in-form Frenchman Gael Monfils, who upset former world number one Andy Roddick 6-4 3-6 6-3.

Jeremy Stahl / Eurosport