Murray cruises into semifinals of Brisbane International

BRISBANE, Australia – Top-seeded Andy Murray beat Marcos Baghdatis 6-2, 6-2 today to advance to the semifinals in the Brisbane International, his only tuneup tournament for the Australian Open.

The fourth-ranked Murray dropped the opening set in his first two rounds as he overcame aches and pains from the offseason, but had no serious difficulty dispatching doubles partner Baghdatis in just over an hour.

Murray, who has lost the last two Australian Open finals and recently hired Ivan Lendl to help him break his Grand Slam title drought, will next play eighth-seeded Bernard Tomic.

The Australian teenager, a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon last year, beat Uzbekistan’s Dennis Istomin 6-3, 7-6 (4).

Murray saved both break points he faced against Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open runner-up, and converted all four of his own.

“I played very well today … moved very well from the start, which wasn’t the case in the last two matches, so really, really happy,” Murray said. “The aches and pains I had from the first two matches have gone, so it’s good.”