Andy Murray's on fire as he sails into Shanghai semis

Joy: Andy Murray was impressive in beating Tsonga
13 April 2012

Andy Murray progressed to the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters today with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

The world No4 was in imperious form, winning 19 out of 22 points on his first serve and breaking the Frenchman twice in each set.

Although Tsonga has only just returned from a knee injury he has not dropped a set all week.

But Murray (below) was superior throughout as his patience and guile forced numerous errors from the 14th seed and the British No1 was delighted with his performance.

"It was good, I served really well," he said. "Jo was struggling a bit on his serve so I was able to get into a lot of the return games and I served really well all week so it was a good performance.

"I hit the ball really clean from the back of the court and the surface is good."

Murray's forehand seemed to increase in power this week and he explained what made the difference. "I am stringing my racquets tighter," he said. "The tighter the racquet the more control you have and less power but I feel comfortable swinging through the ball and giving it a crack.

"It doesn't travel as far and I feel I can go for it a lot more and that has made a difference."

The Scot will hope to benefit from Rafael Nadal's surprise exit to Jurgen Melzer yesterday, leaving him to play either the Austrian or Argentina's Juan Monaco tomorrow.

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