Tall order for Murray if he's to reach final

ANDY MURRAY has vowed to reassess his pre-match preparations after the British No.1 almost slipped out of the Cincinnati Masters last night.

The 21-year-old from Dunblane barely had time to take stock before finding himself a set and break down to veteran Spaniard Carlos Moya in their quarter-final clash.

At that point, a second Masters semi-final in a week seemed a distant prospect but as Moya – who played one-and-a-half matches on Thursday – began to wilt in 95-degree heat, Murray dug deep into his reserves of skill and determination to win through 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.

"Physically, once I started to warm up I felt really fine and thought I was moving really well at the end of the match," he said after the 98-minute thriller.

"I warmed up well this morning, got up early to make sure I was hydrated and in the best possible physical condition – but I just didn't get going."

When the draw was made, Murray would surely have expected to be facing world No.1 Roger Federer in today's semi-final.

But following the Swiss player's damaging defeat to Ivo Karlovic on Thursday night – which means Rafael Nadal will usurp him if he wins the tournament tomorrow – it is the big-serving, six feet 10ins Croat who stands between the Scot and a first Masters Series final.

"He's tough wherever you play him, it doesn't matter. He's sometimes had some better results on the slightly slower courts," Murray said of Karlovic, the world No.33. "He struggled a lot at Wimbledon because he doesn't return so well. He played really well (against Federer] and has been a lot more solid off the ground. If he serves well it's so hard to break him and I'll have to return great if I want to come through that match."

Karlovic built on his win over Federer when he upended unseeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/3). Nadal avoided a similar fate to that of the Swiss by disposing of Nicolas Lapentti 7-6 (7/3), 6-1. The 22-year-old Spaniard has won his last five tournaments. By reaching the semi-finals, Nadal could become No.1 on August 18 and he is guaranteed to move atop the rankings on August 11 by finishing as the runner-up.

Nadal, who is on a 32-match winning streak, had lost to Ecuadorian Lapentti in their only previous encounter and had made a habit of knocking out seeded Spaniards this week, with consecutive upsets of No.5 David Ferrer and No.10 Fernando Verdasco en route to the quarters

Nadal quickly ended any hopes of a hat-trick, though, and will now meet third-seeded Novak Djokovic in his semi-final clash. Djokovic downed Latvia's Ernests Gulbis 6-3, 6-4.