Impressive Murray beats Tsonga

Andy Murray crushed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday morning to advance impressively into the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters.

The British number one was at his imperious best against an opponent in the early stages of a comeback from a knee injury.

Tsonga, in just his fifth match following a three-month lay-off, was lacking his usual verve but that should not detract from Murray's performance as he eased to a 6-2 6-2 victory in just 55 minutes.

And with world number one Rafael Nadal going out on Tursday - beaten in three sets by Jurgen Melzer - the draw has opened up for the Scot who will now meet either Austrian Melzer or Argentinian Juan Monaco for a place in Sunday's final.

He threatened in the opening game by getting to 0-30 before Tsonga battled back but there was no escape when the Frenchman served next although Murray was assisted by two forehand errors from his opponent.

Murray broke through again in the seventh game - Tsonga double-faulting to fall 0-40 down and Murray took advantage with a powerful forehand.

The second set was equally one-sided, Tsonga double-faulting again to lose his opening service game.

There was never any hint of Murray's dominance easing up with his serve working well, as were his groundstrokes from the back of the court.

The wheels were coming off on the other side of the net, however, with Tsonga conceding another break to go 2-5 down down after throwing in two wayward forehands after another double fault.

Murray served it out - he won 86% of points after getting his first serve in in the match - to complete an impressive victory.