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Murray, who must at least reach Sunday's final to keep his number four world ranking, produced his best effort of the week, defusing the red-hot Nalbandian, who had been unstoppable since returning in July from a hamstring injury that sidelined him for two months.
It was the Briton's first-ever win over the 28-year-old Argentine and set up a semifinal meeting with world number one Rafa Nadal of Spain or Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, who meet later Friday.
The Scot delivered an efficient display throughout the surprisingly one-sided contest, twice breaking the tenacious Argentine in the opening set before closing it out with an ace.
Murray broke Nalbandian again to open the second and never allowed the 2002 Wimbledon finalist a chance to get back into the match, ending the rout in a compact 69 minutes with another booming ace.
