Key Biscayne, FL – Former champion Andy Murray was a straight-set quarterfinal winner Thursday at the $4.169 million Sony Open.
The second-seeded Murray handled ninth-seeded Croat Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour, 42 minutes amid sunshine at Crandon Park. Murray needed seven match points to close out Cilic, who was sloppy with 37 unforced errors on Day 9 of this 12-day ATP Masters 1000 event.
Murray moved into his fourth Key Biscayne semifinal by popping six aces and breaking the overmatched Cilic six times. The British star is now 8-1 lifetime against the tall Croat.
The U.S. Open champion Murray titled here in 2009 and was last year's Key Biscayne runner-up to Novak Djokovic.
Murray's semifinal opponent on Friday will be eighth-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who sent fourth-seeded Tomas Berdych packing in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.
Berdych was the Sony Open runner-up three years ago.
Gasquet is searching for his first career title in a Masters event. However, no Frenchman has ever won here in the tournament's 28-year history.
The other semifinal matchup will pit third-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer against 15th-seeded and 34-year-old German Tommy Haas, who stunned the world No. 1 and two-time defending champion Djokovic here on Tuesday.
This week's big winner will pocket $719,160.
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