• Rogers Cup

Murray crushes Nalbandian to power into semis

Andy Murray was too hot to handle for David Nalbandian in the quarter-finals © Getty Images

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Britain's Andy Murray coasted past David Nalbandian 6-2 6-2 to book a place in the semi-finals of the Rogers Cup in Toronto.

The defending champion brought his A-game and was far more consistent than he was in his streaky win over Gael Monfils on Thursday.

In truth, Nalbandian, who came into the match in brilliant form, was far from his best but Murray's relentless hitting from the baseline was central to the Argentine making countless unforced errors.

Murray, needing to reach the final in order to hold on to the world No. 4 tag, came firing out of the blocks and secured the opening break of the match in Nalbandian's second service game.

With his own serving working a treat, Murray could afford to crank up the pressure on his opponent's serve and he needed no second invitation to break again in game seven before fittingly serving out the set.

He immediately broke at the start of the second, preying on Nalbandian's inconsistency from the back of the court to claim his fourth straight game.

Nalbandian, who last week won his 11th ATP World Tour title at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, looked short of ideas and his frustration told as he smashed his racket.

Uncharacteristic mistakes continued from the 28-year-old and once Murray broke to love to go 5-2 up, the end was nigh.

"I served very well today, dictated a lot of the points from the start and also when I was on the move I kept good length on my defence," he told Sky Sports. "Everything was good today, I played very well."

When asked whether or not having a coach had changed his mind set this week, he said: "A little bit, there are certain things you do differently. When you're on your own you have to be a little bit more responsible a bit more independent.

"I just wanted to free up and play my game today, I went for my shots, played tennis and it was the best I've played in a while - possible since Australia."

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