Britain's Andy Murray outclassed Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-2 6-2 to reach the semi-finals of the Madrid Masters on Friday. The 21-year-old Scot, who next faces Roger Federer or Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro, was a bundle of energy and showed little sign of discomfort in the knee that had troubled him the day before.
After swapping breaks in the first two games, world number four Murray, who has already qualified for the season-ending tournament in Shanghai, started to work the 20-year-old Parisian around as the pace heated up. He broke the world number 18 to take a 4-2 lead before another break handed him the set.
It was not until the fourth game of the second set that the match burst into life. Murray scampered after everything Monfils could throw at him, sent up a pair of delicate lobs over his 6-foot-4 opponent and at one point flashed a cross court winner past Monfils that left the Frenchman sprawled on the deck. Monfils, who beat Andy Roddick in the third round, did not help himself with unforced errors, but Murray was starting to play the level of tennis that got him to the US Open final.
With his serve working smoothly, all the pressure was on the Monfils serve. At 4-1 down the Parisian was left shaking his head in disbelief as Murray incredibly reached his smash and blasted a winner down the line before breaking Monfils to love. Murray was playing some of his best tennis of the season, but as against Marin Cilic on Thursday, he again stumbled with the line in sight, before a deflated Monfils double faulted in the eighth game to gift Murray the match.
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