Murray crushes Monfils
Andy Murray of Britain serves to Gael Monfils of France during their Madrid Masters quarterfinal in Madrid on Friday.Photo: AFP
Andy Murray reached his fourth semifinal of his last five events as the Scottish fourth seed crushed France's Gael Monfils 6-2, 6-2 at the Madrid Masters on Friday.
Since Wimbledon, US Open finalist Murray has played his way into the last four at every event he's entered save the Beijing Olympics, where he lost in the first round to a Taiwanese player.
The 21-year-old will face off on Saturday against the winner from Juan Del Potro and Roger Federer. Should the Swiss win, it would set up a repeat of the US Open final of last month.
Murray improved to 2-1 over Monfils, coached by Lleyton Hewitt's former mentor Roger Rasheed who has instilled training discipline into the free-spirited French youngster.
But the new regime was not enough to make a difference on the day, with Monfils ending on a double-fault, his 31st unforced error of a 67-minute afternoon.
Murray struck 17 winners and 19 errors, breaking on six of his 11 chances.
The loss left Monfils adrift as he aims for a long-odds place in the eight-man season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai, standing 14th with two weeks of ATP play remaining.
Murray has already qualified along with Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic with four spots still open.
The Scot roared straight back from a break in the opening game, sweeping the opener in 36 minutes with three breaks of Monfils.
The winning momentum picked up in the second set with fourth-seed Murray breaking in the fourth and sixth games for a 5-1 lead.
Murray closed it out as Monfils sent over his service mis-cue to take the loss.
Murray has now won 11 of his last 12 matches, standing 46-14 on the season. He stands 7-2 in Madrid over his career.
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