Murray sets up semifinal against Federer

— -- A mouth-watering semifinal against Roger Federer awaits Andy Murray after he weathered two rain delays to get the job done against Vasek Pospisil in straight sets on Centre Court.

Pospisil, the world No. 56, was comfortably the lowest-ranked player left in the draw. But he will return to the top 30 next week and showed his run to a first Grand Slam quarterfinal was no fluke, forcing Murray to earn his progress.

Murray was given a workout around the court but only had to fend off a single break point as he eventually closed out a 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 victory under the roof . He has now won all nine sets he has played against Pospisil in four outings.

Next up is the small matter of facing a seven-time champion at the All England Club. Here are five takeaways as Murray reached his sixth Wimbledon semifinal:

Royal gains: Walking out onto Centre Court, Murray will have seen the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge watching on from the Royal Box, as well as David Beckham in his players' box. No pressure, then. The last time William and Kate watched the Scot in a Wimbledon quarterfinal, his title defence ended with a straight-sets defeat to Grigor Dimitrov 12 months ago. Murray did not fluff his lines this time, though, wrapping things up in two hours and 13 minutes and expressing a desire for the royals to return for his contest with Federer.

Brotherly love: Murray may owe his brother a favour after Jamie and partner John Peers kept Pospisil out on court for five sets in their doubles match on Monday, the Canadian having already gone the distance in his singles win over Viktor Troicki earlier that day. Murray admitted he "selfishly" hoped Pospisil would be tired after six hours on court, and the world No.3 looked fresher and more energetic than his opponent from the off, breaking in the third game and seeing out a fairly routine first set.

Rain, rain, go away: It's almost as if we had forgotten that rain delays had become an established irritant here at Wimbledon. The age-old tradition reared its head on Wednesday with Murray and Pospisil going off twice in the first two sets. These interruptions can break a player's rhythm and, with the Centre Court roof closed during the second of those delays, the players were required to adapt to new on-court conditions, too. So Murray can take confidence from the way he stayed sharp after the change of atmosphere, securing a crucial break for 6-5 in a second set that looked to be heading to a tie-break with Pospisil ready to strike.

150 not out: The Scot goes into his semifinal against Federer on a 10-match winning streak. With victory here, Murray racked up his 150th grand slam win. Only three active players have won more than Murray, and it is no surprise those men are the other members of the 'big four' - Roger Federer has 290, Novak Djokovic 197 and Rafael Nadal 196. The Scot is now joint-sixth on the list of most Wimbledon semifinal appearances in the Open Era, alongside Bjorn Borg, Stefan Edberg and Goran Ivanisevic.

Familiar foe: Murray will need to improve on his last showing against Federer, who thrashed him 6-0, 6-1 at the World Tour Finals, if he is to reach the Wimbledon final. He will also need a flash of inspiration in his game planning - which has been so impressive at The Championships thus far - to change the dynamics of their matches after 23 contests. Federer has a head-to-head win record of 12-11, but it is honours even from their two matches on Centre Court, with the Swiss beating Murray in the 2013 Wimbledon final and the Briton exacting revenge to win the Olympic gold medal a month later.