Murray torches Tsonga, Djokovic also into semis

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Britain's Andy Murray brushed aside burly Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2 6-2 to reach the Shanghai Masters semi-finals Friday, while Serb Novak Djokovic also reached the last four.

Fourth-seeded Murray looks to be returning to form after a recent illness, taking command early in the first set and was hardly troubled in the second as he advanced to last four in just 54 minutes.

"He struggled a little bit on his serve and wasn't serving as big as usual, so I managed to get into a lot of the return games," said Murray.

"I served well and didn't give him any chances on my serve. I was hitting the ball really cleanly from the back of the court, so it was a good start," he added.

The error-prone Tsonga was no match for the 23-year-old world number four, whose stinging backhand returns forced the 12th seed into submission.

Joining Murray in the last four is world number two Djokovic, who trounced unseeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2 6-3.

The Serb broke the Spaniard's serve to take the first set with ease but had to work a little harder in the second to complete the victory.

Jurgen Melzer, who beat world number one Rafa Nadal in the third round, plays Argentina's Juan Monaco, while Roger Federer takes on Robin Soderling for the last semi-final spots.