Andy Murray through to semi-finals of Japan Open

Olympic champion Murray, playing his first event since winning his maiden grand slam title at last month’s US Open, survived a scare from the Swiss in brilliant Tokyo sunshine.

The Scot now faces sixth seed Milos Raonic today after the big-serving Canadian squeaked by third seed Janko Tipsarevic 6-7, 6-2, 7-6 in an epic struggle. “It will be a totally different match,” said top seed Murray, looking ahead to Raonic. “He’s obviously got a massive serve. I played him a few weeks ago at the US Open. He’s always a tricky player because of his game style.”

Murray attacked Wawrinka from the start, sealing a double break after chasing down a drop volley and whipping a superb lob into the corner with Wawrinka’s nose still poking over the net.

Seventh seed Wawrinka had clearly not read the script and fought back to take the second, Murray smashing his racket on the court in disgust.

Normal service resumed in the decider, however. Murray was a touch fortunate to break for 3-1 when a forehand return clipped the net and rolled onto Wawrinka’s side of the court. A frustrated Wawrinka responded by mangling his own racket in the next game to even up the code violation warnings from the chair umpire.

“It was a difficult match,” said world No 3 Murray after extending his winning streak to ten matches and beating his Swiss opponent for the eighth time in 12 meetings. “There are no easy games against Stan. We’ve had lots of tough matches. It was the same again today.”

Murray, who also reached this year’s Wimbledon final, thrashed Raonic 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 in the fourth round of the US Open but the Canadian has been in red-hot form in Tokyo.

Making a bold fashion statement in a pair of bright orange goggles, Serbian Tipsarevic held a match point in the final set tiebreak, only for Raonic to snatch it away with a huge serve. Raonic, who ripped 24 aces in total, took the breaker 9-7, fittingly with another sizzling serve out wide, ending a quality match after two hours, 43 minutes.

“He was just too good,” Raonic said when asked about his spanking by Murray in New York. “I just have to hope he doesn’t play that well again.”

Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus beat Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov 6-2, 6-4 to reach the last four while second seed Tomas Berdych crashed out in the day’s late quarter-final, beaten 7-5, 6-4 by local favourite Kei Nishikori under floodlights in the tournament’s biggest upset so far.

Baghdatis now faces eighth seed Nishikori, who became the first Japanese to reach the semi-finals with an inspired performance against 2008 Tokyo winner Berdych.