Andy Murray needed just over two hours to shut out Japanese Kei Nishikori in his quarter-final at the Australian Open 2012.
Nishikori had his moments in the first set but once Murray won it 6-3, there was no looking back for the Brit. He went on to enter the semi-finals with an easy 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 win over the Japanese.
Murray broke Nishikori’s very first service game in the first set and rushed off to a 3-0 lead. The two went on serve till Murray went 0-40 down in the seventh game but managed to hold on to his serve. Later he served out in the ninth game.
The two players exchanged a service break in the first two games of the second set before Murray broke Nishikori in the third game again. He held on to his serve till he broke Nishikori again in the ninth game of the set to win 6-3.
The third set was one-way traffic as Nishikori was broken in all his three service games. He did bounce back with a break of Murray’s serve but eventually went down 6-1 to allow Murray to go through to the last-four stage.
The Brit takes on the winner of the Djokovic v Ferrer match in the semi-final.
