David Nalbandian will be Andy Murray’s final warm-up for Australian Open

ANDY Murray will complete his Australian Open preparations with an exhibition match against Argentine David Nalbandian at Kooyong next Friday.

Murray, who is competing at the Brisbane International this week, will then head to Melbourne to compete in the season-opening grand slam event.

The Scottish world No 4 has reached the final in each of the last two years at Melbourne Park, losing to Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic respectively.

Yesterday, Murray’s hopes of doubles success in Brisbane ended when he and partner Marcos Baghdatis were knocked out at the second-round stage. The pair won the first set but second seeds Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner hit back to win 3-6, 6-3, 15-13 (match tie-break).

Murray and Baghdatis had to put the defeat behind them quickly, though, as they were scheduled to face each other in the quarter-finals of the singles in the early hours of this morning.

Murray’s older brother Jamie was earlier also eliminated from the doubles along with Australian partner Paul Hanley, going down 7-5 6-3 to third seeds Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau.

In the women’s event, Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters reached the semi-finals with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Iveta Benesova. Clijsters, who won the Brisbane title in 2010, raced to a 5-0 lead before Benesova, who ousted US Open champion Sam Stosur in the second round, launched a comeback with a run of three straight games.

Benesova held her opening serve and had an early break-point chance in the second set before Clijsters shifted up a gear and dominated the remainder of the match to earn a semi-final meeting against Daniela Hantuchova, who got a walkover in the quarter-finals when 13-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams withdrew after injuring her left ankle.

Clijsters had a tough three-set win over Ana Ivanovic in the second round but didn’t let Benesova get too close in the quarters.

“I’m very satisfied with the way that I played,” Clijsters said. “In my previous match I lost my focus a bit. I was really focussed on not letting that happen today.”

Third seed Francesca Schiavone will meet Kaia Kanepi of Estonia in the other semi-final. Schiavone saved two matchpoints in her 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-3 win over former No 1 Jelena Jankovic. The 2010 French Open champion saved matchpoints on her serve in the 12th game of the second set and then, after winning the tie-breaker and going down a break in the third set, won the last five games.

Kanepi needed five matchpoints to finish off a 6-1, 7-6 (7) win over second-seeded Andrea Petkovic.