Murray batters Baghdatis in Brisbane

Saturday, 7 January 2012 00:20 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Top seed Andy Murray looked far sharper than his earlier matches at the Brisbane International and romped into the semi-finals on Friday with a 6-2 6-2 thrashing of Marcos Baghdatis.

The world number four, bidding to break his grand slam drought at the Australian Open in Melbourne later this month, had been less than convincing in his two previous matches but was ruthless against the Cypriot.

The 24-year-old Briton broke the former Australian Open finalist’s serve four times and served out in just 66 minutes.

“I felt solid on the ball and because I was moving better he didn’t hit too many winners,” said Murray, who played doubles with Baghdatis in Brisbane.

The Scot was also pleased with his movement around the court.

“It’s a huge part of my game and when that goes well then normally the rest of my game improves a lot.

“I can dictate more of the point; I can make it harder for my opponents to get the ball through me. That’s what I did from the start.”

Murray will now meet Bernard Tomic in the semi-finals after the Australian teenager beat Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin 6-3 7-6.

Saturday’s semi-final will be the first for Tomic at an ATP Tour level tournament though Murray said he would not be taking the 19-year-old lightly.

“He’s very unorthodox, very different to a lot of the guys on the tour nowadays,” Murray said of last year’s Wimbledon quarter-finalist.

“He’s quite unpredictable. He can play a couple of games where he doesn’t do much then he can play three or four great games so you have to be on the ball against him mentally.”

Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters meets Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova in the first women’s semi-final later on Friday, while Francesca Schiavone meets Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi.