It's not a shock to find Andy Murray among the elite of his profession. Despite having the temper of a Marat Safin, he always seems to have the mindset of a champion. He has an unmistakable vision on the tennis court and an innate sense of how to read his opponents, which explains his recent peaks.

At the end of 2006, when he was only 19, he completed his season at No.17 in the world. Upon the conclusion of 2007, despite a long stretch sidelined with a wrist injury, he moved purposefully to 11th in the rankings.

Every champion remembers a key match which changed everything in their career. For Murray, it all started to change when he beat Richard Gasquet in the last 16 of this year’s Wimbledon, despite being two sets and a break down in the third.

After winning his first Masters Series crown in Cincinnati, he stands at a career high No.6 in the world. And yet, that number does not do full justice to Murray on current form. Nikolay Davydenko is No.4 and David Ferrer resides at No.5. Both men, slumping figures over the course of the 2008 season, reached the US Open semi-finals a year ago.

I am convinced Murray will move past those individuals to his rightful place at No.4 in the world, either immediately after the US Open or not far past that point. At 21, he has moved swiftly to another level in the last few months, and over the next few years his stock will rise considerably.

Let's look at what Murray has done in recent weeks. He reached his first Grand Slam tournament quarter-final at Wimbledon before the eventual champion, Rafael Nadal, cut him down comprehensively. He went to Toronto and made it to the semi-final there, toppling Novak Djokovic for the first time in their head-to-head series before losing a hard-fought encounter with Nadal.

In Cincinnati, he captured the biggest title of his young career. In the quarter-final, he was down 2-6 0-2 15-40 to the wily Carlos Moya but a determined Murray struck back to win 12 of the next 14 games and the match. He cut down the imposing 6ft 10in Ivo Karlovic 6-4 6-4 in the semis (breaking the game's most daunting server four times) and then beat Djokovic for the second week in a row 7-6 7-6 in the final.

To overcome Djokovic in back-to-back matches on hard courts is no small achievement. The world No.3 has, after all, won the Australian Open and Indian Wells on hard courts this season. He reached the final of the US Open last year. His game is tailor-made for that surface. Hardly any of his adversaries can contain him from the back of the court because his ground game is so penetrating and his first serve is one of the best in the game. In Cincinnati, Djokovic seemed ready to make a serious statement about himself and his game.

Following a 6-1 7-5 victory over Nadal in the semis, Djokovic, who has not won a tournament since capturing the Italian Open in May, was primed to secure another championship. Furthermore, he did not want to lose to Murray two weeks in a row, particularly after giving a disappointing performance in Toronto against the British No.1.

But Murray demonstrated emphatically that he is a much more dangerous player than he was even a few months ago. He outplayed Djokovic virtually across the board. Djokovic threw everything he had in his substantial arsenal at Murray, but in the end it was all to no avail.

Murray is growing up fast, and he has the game to back up his lofty ambitions. He has improved his first serve significantly, his two-hander is one of the soundest in the game and he is now a more diversified player, no longer spending so much time defending, much more eager to take charge of rallies. He used to hit too many slice forehands but now he is blasting away off that side much more convincingly. That forehand is holding up much better under pressure.

Don't misunderstand me, I am not saying Murray has it made. This was his first Masters Series tournament win and we have yet to see him perform in even a semi-final at a Grand Slam event. But he will be a serious contender at both the Olympic Games and the US Open. The guess here is that Murray will go deep into both draws. At the Open, he could well make it to the penultimate round, and might even get to the final.

I don't believe he is quite ready yet to win a major, but he is closing in rapidly on that goal. He has beaten Roger Federer the last two times they have played, winning both on hard courts. He has Djokovic confounded, at least for the time being. He has not beaten the redoubtable Nadal, but has had some remarkable clashes with the Spaniard, including a five-set skirmish at the 2007 Australian Open and that high quality semi-final in Toronto.

Quite clearly, Andy Murray is going places. He has a decent chance of winning a major, he is not afraid of anyone and he has a growing awareness of himself and his potential. The way I see it, he will be around the upper regions of the game for the next five years and he is thinking more and more like a champion. Tennis could do a whole lot worse than to have Murray in the mix.