Tennis story by sport.co.uk, Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:54:30 GMT



Home favourite Andy Murray enjoyed a relatively easy passage through to the semi-finals of the men's singles at Wimbledon as he brushed aside former world number 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight-sets 7-5, 6-3, 6-2.

In stark contrast to the British contender's fourth round late-night clash with Stanislas Wawrinka, it was fun in the sun for Murray as he eased to victory in little over an hour and 40 minutes on a sweltering Centre Court.



Much had been made of Murray's fatigued appearance in his previous encounter and while there were early signs of rustiness against the former French Open champion, it didn't take long for the number three seed to show the current gulf in class between himself and wild card entry Ferrero.



The first set required just a single break in serve for Murray to gain an early advantage in the match - Ferrero double faulting at set point - but an early break in favour of the Spaniard in the second set gave him a 3-1 lead.



Murray immediately hit back and produced a stunning spell of tennis, claiming an astonishing 20 of the next 21 points to surge to the second set 6-3.



The result looked to have an air of inevitability long before Murray served out the match, breaking Ferrero twice in the third set to book a semi-final clash against either Andy Roddick or Lleyton Hewitt.