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Murray cruises into semis

London - Andy Murray reached his third successive Wimbledon semi-final by brushing aside Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, on Wednesday to set up another showdown with Rafa Nadal.

The British fourth seed, desperately seeking his first grand slam title, was never remotely threatened by the unseeded Spaniard, who seemed drained of energy following his gruelling fourth-round victory over Lukasz Kubot when he came from two sets down to win in five.

Murray, bidding to become the first British men's singles champion at Wimbledon for 75 years, said: "I've played a little bit better every year here.

"I've been beaten in the semis for the past two years and this time I want to go further."

Coming into a near-empty Centre Court as the dust settled on Roger Federer's five-set defeat by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the one-sided match struggled to produce much atmosphere despite Murray again carrying the hopes of the host nation.

Murray, perhaps not used to playing on Centre Court with the roof open, looked a little tentative at first but Lopez, who knocked out No 8 seed Andy Roddick in the third round, was unable to take advantage as the Scot dropped only four points on his own serve en route to a 40-minute 6-3 success.

Murray did not have to do anything extraordinary as the inconsistent Spaniard, one of the few players to use serve and volley tactics on a regular basis in this year's tournament, mixed up the occasional eye-catching winner with a succession of unforced errors.

Murray broke in the fifth game of the second set after finding an impossible angle with a lovely two-handed backhand and won that set too at a canter.

Not until the eighth game of the third set did Lopez force his first break points but Murray saved both and went on to finish with a flourish by sending down three successive aces after only two hours of action.

"I thought it was good. Feliciano looked a little tired and struggled a bit with his movement, but I thought I served well throughout the match," Murray said.

"I'm playing well. You get pushed more and more as the rounds go on and I'll get pushed more in the next round and I'll have to up my game."

Murray, into his third grand slam semi of the year, said he was not overly concerned about an apparent groin injury he felt after slipping on the baseline.

"On the grass sometimes your feet can get caught, but I feel alright," he said.

"I'll get treatment for it for sure, but these things happen during grand slams and you've just got to try to get on with."

Murray has only won four of his 15 matches against Nadal who triumphed in last year's semi-final against the Briton in straight sets.

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