Murray secures semis spot (From Oxford Mail)

Murray secures semis spot

8:45pm Friday 9th November 2012 in National Sport © Press Association 2013

Andy Murray wasted no time booking his place in the semi-finals of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London this evening.

The Scot knew prior to his final group match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga that one set would be good enough after Novak Djokovic defeated Tomas Berdych this afternoon.

And he took any potential drama out of the situation by winning the opening set 6-2, which in turn ended Tsonga's hopes of progression.

Murray has a great record against the Frenchman, winning six of their last seven meetings and five in a row, including in the Wimbledon semi-finals this summer.

The Scot quickly set about making it six in a row, using his vicious slice to break in the opening game, and it was not until four games later that Tsonga finally got on the board.

The seventh seed is very popular in the UK but the cheer that greeted his service hold was largely because the crowd desperately wanted to see a good match.

Tsonga was offering no real threat on the Murray serve, though, and he wrapped up the set in 33 minutes thanks to a wild return from his opponent.

It is the second time the 25-year-old has reached the last four at the O2 and the third time at the tournament as a whole.