Shanghai - Andy Murray advanced to the final of the Shanghai Masters following a routine win on Saturday.
The Brit eased past Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-3 in an hour and 40
minutes to reach his fourth Masters 1000 final of the year.
The crowd at the Qizhong Stadium looked to be settling in
for a tense battle when the pair swapped breaks early on in the opening set.
However, the world number two earned the double break and
managed to stay ahead of the in-form Frenchman as he closed out the set.
In the second set, a mammoth second game saw Simon save four
break points only for Murray to get the break on the fifth and consolidate to
go 3-0 up.
After Murray won the fifth game to love it appeared there
was no more fight left in Simon, but he mustered the strength for one final
break.
Murray would serve out the set and with it the match, which
books him a place in the final on Sunday against Roberto Bautista Agut, who
surprised top seed Novak Djokovic earlier in the day.
It will be a tall order for the Spaniard, as Murray has won his last 18 sets in Asia and Bautista Agut has lost the only two matches they have played against each other.