Andy Murray beat Kei Nishikori in an impressive straight sets victory to set up an Australian Open semi-final with Novak Djokovic, who beat David Ferrer.
The British number one had little trouble completing a 6-3 6-3 6-1 win to reach the last four in Melbourne for the third consecutive year.
"It was tough. I didn't serve well but the returning was good," said Murray.
Djokovic defeated Ferrer in the last quarter-final and faces Murray at around 0830 GMT on Friday.
Murray was happy with his performance, although admitted there was room for improvement.
"It was a good match, a lot of fun points, most of them he was winning so I was trying to keep them as short as possible," he added.
"But I need to serve better. My game has been getting better each match and I am moving better and I am going to be fresh going into the weekend."
The fourth seed beat 22-year-old Nishikori 6-0 6-3 in the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters in 2011 in the pair's only previous match.
Murray began as if he was intent on completing an equally comprehensive victory in Melbourne by breaking the Japanese player's opening service game.
The Scot's serve was not at its best - he got just 44% of first serves into play - and the 24th seed nearly hit back immediately after a number of unforced errors from Murray gifted Nishikori break points, but Murray held on for a 3-0 lead.
Nishikori, the first player from Japan to reach the last eight of the tournament in 80 years, had three break points in the sixth game but squandered his chances to allow Murray to hold on and eventually claim the set in 55 minutes.
The pair traded breaks at the beginning of the second set before Nishikori dropped his serve in the third game.
Nishikori had spent four more hours on the court than his opponent in reaching the quarter-finals and it began to show as Murray again broke to take the second set.
Murray quickly established a 5-1 lead in the third set and served out for the match to make a fifth successive Grand Slam semi-final appearance.
But hopes of a double British celebration were dashed when Murray's fellow Scot Colin Fleming was beaten in the mixed doubles.
Fleming and American partner Liezel Huber lost 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 in their quarter-final against Indian opponents Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza.
Page last updated at 06:38 GMT, Wednesday, 25 January 2012
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/16695246.stm
No comments:
Post a Comment