Indian Wells, United States: Andy Murray set a record for Open Era wins by a British man with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Feliciano Lopez to reach the Indian Wells ATP Masters semi-finals on Thursday.
Fourth seed Murray booked a showdown with defending champion Novak Djokovic, who won his match in a walkover when Bernard Tomic withdrew from their scheduled quarter-final in the WTA and ATP hardcourt tournament.
Murray now has 497 match wins, surpassing Tim Henman for the most in the Open Era by a British player.
The 27-year-old Scot continued his domination over the Spanish left-hander Lopez, having won all 10 career matches between the two.
“His game style I think matches up quite well against mine,” said Murray, now just three wins shy of the 500-win milestone. “I don’t have as much trouble with the lefties.
“I was able to deal with his difficult spins today, but it was tough because he fought right to the end.”
Murray blasted four aces and won over 70 per cent of his first and second serve points in the one hour, 32 minute match.
Lopez came into the match leading the tournament in aces with 46 in three matches. But the 12th seeded Spaniard managed just five against Murray on Thursday.
Murray ended his historic 2013 — where he became the first British man to win Wimbledon in 77 years — when he had back surgery. The rehab took time and he was not the same player in 2014.
But Murray began to get back into form at the end of last year and is now eager to win his first Indian Wells title this week. His best finish is a runner-up in 2009, when he lost to Rafael Nadal in the final.
He was also runner up at January’s Australian Open and lost in the quarter-finals this year in Dubai and Rotterdam.
World number one Djokovic advanced to the semis without lifting his racquet after a bad back and painful wisdom tooth forced Tomic to pull out.
Australia’s Tomic made his decision to withdraw several hours before his match was to open the evening session, allowing Djokovic a free pass.
In the women’s draw, Sabine Lisicki was too much for defending champion Flavia Pennetta, saving three match points in a three-set win over the Italian to book her semi-final berth.
Pennetta had hoped to repeat her surprise victory of last year and managed to save one match point before running out of gas in the marathon quarter-final, won 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/4) by the 24th seed from Germany.
Former Wimbledon runner-up Lisicki needed two hours and 40 minutes to fashion the victory, which set up a clash with another former champion, Serbian Jelena Jankovic.
Jankovic, in contrast, barely broke a sweat in 45 minutes as she advanced when qualifier Lesia Tsurenko retired in the second set with an injury. The former world No. 1, who won the Indian Wells title in 2010, was leading 6-1, 4-1 when Tsurenko packed it in with a right ankle problem.
