Nalbandian is no match for Murray

(REUTERS)

Andy Murray crushed the in-form David Nalbandian to book his place in the semi-finals of the Toronto Masters last night and rated it as just about the best he had played since the Australian Open in January.

The Scot, the defending champion and fourth seed here, saw off the former Wimbledon finalist in style, winning 6-2, 6-2 in 69 minutes. Murray won five games in a row at the end of the first set and the start of the second as he refused to let the Argentinian – who had set up a career-best 11-match winning streak coming into the contest – find any rhythm.

Nalbandian had no answer to his opponent's impressive serving as Murray made 67 per cent of his first serves and faced just one break point, which he saved.

The Scot had suffered a second-set meltdown in his 6-2, 0-6, 6-3 victory over Gaël Monfils in the previous round, but there was never a danger of a repeat yesterday. "That's the best I've played in a long time, maybe since Australia," Murray said.

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