Lu's journey from a chicken farm to Centre Court

LONDON // Yen-hsun Lu grew up on a chicken farm in Taiwan, dreaming about developing his skills to the level of a tennis professional. He did not like the smell when he helped out in the family business and he did not like the working hours. "We collected the eggs between 1am and 6am because the hens would not run away in the dark," he said, emphasising how determined he was to make his mark on the ATP Tour.

After the career highlight of an eye-catching Beijing Olympics victory over Andy Murray two years ago, Lu has finally made his grand slam breakthrough - out-thinking and outlasting Andy Roddick to reach today's men's singles quarter-finals. Lu, 82nd in the world before Wimbledon but destined to make a significant leap up the rankings ladder, denied Roddick, a three-time runner-up here, what seemed a routine date with Novak Djokovic this afternoon by stubbornly refusing to accept his Court Two fate.

After pouncing on a rare opportunity to break Roddick's powerful serve to close out an exciting deciding set 9-7 on Monday night, he is now setting his sights on another big upset at the expense of Djokovic, the 2008 Australian Open champion. Before arriving in London, Lu, 26, had managed only six victories in 18 grand slam tournaments. He dedicated his moment of glory to his father, who died 10 years ago after acting as coach and mentor during Lu's formative years.

Lu, who calls himself "Randy" when on tennis duty, said: "I'm a little sad that I've done this today and he isn't with me." The Taipei player's first career meeting with Djokovic is likely to determine the semi-final opponent for Roger Federer, the six-time champion who takes on Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic at the top of the men's draw. The bottom half is the more exciting as Andy Murray goes from strength to strength in his quest to become Britain's first men's champion since 1936. The Scot is the only one of the eight remaining contenders not to have dropped a set in getting through the first four rounds.

A semi-final between Murray and Rafael Nadal, the 2009 champion here and the recent winner of his fifth French Open title, is in prospect if the duo can overcome their respective opponents today - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Robin Soderling. Nadal insisted after his stroll of a fourth-round match against Paul-Henri Mathieu that the knee problems that prevented his appearance here to defend his title 12 months ago have not returned. wjohnson@thenational.ae