British No1 Murray hurts thumb and then groin in falls on slippery surface but still beats Gulbis at Queen's

Murray, the World No11, seriously damaged his left ankle falling on the same Queen's Club centre court three years ago and still has to wear a special support when he plays.

Surface tension: Andy Murray takes a painful tumble after slipping on the court at Queen's Club today, where his third-round match against Latvia's Ernests Gulbis was interrupted by rain. Murray hurt his groin but played on after treatment for a 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 win

Today, he needed lengthy treatment on his left groin and also for a strain to his neck, suffered in the same incident, at the start of the third set of his third round clash with Gulbis.

Despite being in obvious pain, Murray opted to continue playing and now meets defending champion Andy Roddick in the last eight.

Leg injury: Murray receives medical attention after his slip

Murray found the court difficult to deal with following earlier rain and his grass stained shorts highlighted the many times he lost his footing.

There was also concern earlier in the match when a tumble left him with a damaged thumb on his right hand and repeated injury treatments were needed to allow him to continue in the first set which he eventually lost 5-7.

He squared the match taking the next set 6-1 before that heavy fall.

After the match, Murray said: "The thumb's the worse, my groin's okay but my neck feels bad as well. I'm feeling alright at the moment but we will wait and see how I feel tomorrow."

The match had started in gloomy conditions and the players were off court within 14 minutes as rain started to affect the grass. Murray made that clear to umpire Mohammad Jennati, of Morocco that he wanted the match stopped but had to wait until the players were tied 2-2 to head back to the locker room.

The Scot twice had asked the umpire to take action as he slid out of control trying to deal with clever drop shots that Gulbis was using to make the most of the treacherous conditions.

The British No1 had fallen in the second game of the opening set as he reached a drop shot and rubbed his left knee after coming close to reaching the net after falling.

Play became really precarious for both men in the fourth game with Murray slipping badly and immediately turned to the umpire who refused to take any action.

Fighting spirit: Murray celebrates after he won his match against Ernests Gulbis

With rain continuing to fall, another Gulbis drop shot saw Murray reach the ball but then slide five feet into the net and end up bent double over the tape.

Only when Gulbis held serve did the umpire announce that play was suspended to the huge relief of Murray and the watching British tennis fans.

Roddick who was given an easy route into the quarter-finals when fellow American Mardy Fish retired with an ankle injury - suffered on the same court being used by Murray.

Fish lost the tie break 7-5 and the set 7-6 and then had the left ankle taped before deciding it was too painful to continue.

Roddick said: "Mardy is a friend and I don't want him to be hurt. Next week might be a question mark for him, but hopefully he is okay for Wimbledon."

Chile's Fernando Gonzalez, the 10th seed, lost to Ivo Karlovic in controversial circumstances.

He was already facing defeat when a game penalty for repeated ball abuse in the second set handed his Croatian opponent victory.