Murray Ends Nishikori's Historic Run

© Getty ImagesAndy Murray has a 23-6 record at the Australian Open.

World No. 4 Andy Murray ended Kei Nishikori's historic run at the Australian Open as he defeated the Japanese No. 24 seed 6-3, 6-3, 6- 1 on Wednesday for a place in the semi-finals.

Murray will attempt to reach the final at Melbourne Park for a third straight year when he faces top seed Novak Djokovic, who beat him in the 2011 title match.

"I was just a little bit more solid today and probably had a little bit more in the tank than he did," said Murray. "He played three long matches.  With the way that he plays, he needs to play a lot of long rallies. That was to my advantage today.
 
"I was hitting the ball better today. I could have served better, that's for sure. I'll need to serve better in the next match. But I was returning good, hitting the ball clean from the back of the court [and] moved forward well."

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Murray broke Nishikori in the second game of the match and saved two break points in the following game to get off to a 3-0 start. He came under pressure at 4-2, falling to 0/40, but won five straight points to maintain his lead.

The second set began with three consecutive breaks, with Murray again seizing the early advantage. The 24 year old broke Nishikori again in the final game of the set.

Nishikori had battled from two sets down in his second round match against Matthew Ebden, but was unable to replicate the feat against the fourth seed.

Murray, who has now reached his fifth consecutive Grand Slam championship semi-final, hit 36 winners and four aces. He won 21 of his 25 approached to the net and dropped eight points on first serve. Nishikori committed 39 unforced errors and could only convert two of 10 break point opportunities.

Murray is the first player to reach 10 match wins in 2012, after opening the season with an ATP World Tour 250 title at the Brisbane International (d. Dolgopolov).

"Of course I wanted to win today," said Nishikori, who had made history by becoming the first Japanese man to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals in the Open Era. "I was really excited before the match and even yesterday.  But I wasn't good enough physically, mentally, [and] even tennis. He's really improving I think his serve now... and he has great defence. It's not easy to play against him."

Watch Nishikori Hot Shot | Read 'Counting On Kei' in DEUCE