In-Form Murray To Face Nishikori In SFs

© Getty ImagesAndy Murray will play Kei Nishikori on Saturday.

Andy Murray remained on course to complete an Asian title treble on Friday, after the second seed beat Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden 6-3, 6-2 for a place in the Shanghai Rolex Masters semi-finals. "I created a lot of chances," said Murray. "I had game points in almost every one of his service games during the match. [But] I could have done with being a bit more clinical.

"I feel like I can play better. I served well so far. But I think I can hit the ball a bit better from the back of the court. And, like I said a few days ago, it's different conditions to the last couple of weeks. Maybe still adjusting a bit."

The match swung in Murray's favour at 2-3 in the first set, when he went onto win seven games in a row against Ebden, who is projected to rise from World No. 124 to around No. 80 in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings on Friday.

Ebden earned his first break point opportunity in the seventh game of the second set, but Murray fired down an ace. Murray hit seven aces in total and won 77 per cent of his service points for victory in 85 minutes at the Qi Zhong Stadium.

Murray is on a 13-match winning streak since losing in the US Open semi-finals (l. to Nadal). In recent weeks, he has lifted ATP World Tour trophies at the PTT Thailand Open in Bangkok (d. Young) and the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships (d. Nadal).

The 24-year-old Scot, who has already qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, added 180 South African Airways 2011 ATP Year-To-Date Rankings points and now has 6,560 total points, which is 1,375 points ahead of No. 4-ranked Swiss Roger Federer.

Murray has a 52-11 match record on the season and has won 23 of his past 24 matches since mid-August. He will be attempting to reach his sixth final of the year against Japan's Kei Nishikori on Saturday.

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