Murray glides into Brisbane semis

 

Originally published on: 06/01/12 10:00

After toiling through his opening two matches in Brisbane, Andy Murray looked to be back to his old self during a clinical 6-2 6-2 victory over former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis.

The world No.4 broke the Cypriot four times before serving out a 65-minute victory that sees him through to a semi-final clash with Bernard Tomic.

“I felt solid on the ball and because I was moving better he didn’t hit too many winners,” said Murray, who was particularly happy with his improved movement after appearing sluggish during his previous matches against Mikhail Kukushkin and Gilles Muller.

“I started moving better from the first game of the match and that’s a huge part of my game,” said the Scot. “When that goes well the rest of my game improves a lot, I can dictate more of points and make it harder for my opponents to get the ball through me. That was the difference today from the first couple of matches.

In a much anticipated semi-final, Murray next faces 19-year-old Gold Coast resident Tomic, who had defeated Denis Istomin 6-3 7-6(4) for a spot in his first tour-level semi-final, and the Scot knows his concentration will have to be watertight for the bout.

“He’s just quite unpredictable and you have to be very focused against him because he can play a couple of games where he doesn’t do much and then he can play three or four great games,” he said of the teen. “So you need to be on the ball mentally against him.”

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