BRISBANE, Australia (AP) Top-seeded Andy Murray beat Marcos Baghdatis 6-2, 6-2 on Friday to advance to the semifinals in the Brisbane International, his only tuneup tournament for the Australian Open.
The fourth-ranked Murray dropped the opening sets 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 has recently hired Ivan Lendl to help him break his Grand Slam title drought, will face the winner of the quarterfinal between Bernard Tomic and Denis Istomin.