Britain's Murray powers past Cilic in Miami, targets final spot

Andy Murray celebrates emphatic win against Croatian Marin Cilic US Open and Olympic champion Andy Murray reached the semi-finals of the Miami Masters by ousting Croatian ninth seed Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-3, shaking off two early exchanges of breaks to find his form ."I played more solid as the match went on," Murray said. "Once I got back on level terms in the first set I started to do better, so many long rallies, long points, long games."
The Scottish second seed, who won the 2009 title and lost last year's final, will face French eighth seed Richard Gasquet who surprised Czech fourth seed Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-3.
"I played more solid as the match went on," Murray said. "Once I got back on level terms in the first set I started to do better, so many long rallies, long points, long games."
Murray improved to 8-1 all-time against Cilic, winning five times in a row since the lone loss in the fourth round of the 2009 US Open.
Murray beat Cilic in four sets at last year's US Open quarter-finals on the way to his first Grand Slam crown.
Murray broke Cilic to open the second set, exchanged breaks in the seventh and eighth games, then closed out matters in the ninth game on his seventh match point by breaking when Cilic netted a forehand after one hour and 42 minutes.
Gasquet is searching for his first career title in the Miami Masters event. No Frenchman has ever won in the tournament's 28-year history.
The other semi-final sees third-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer against 34-year-old giant-killer Tommy Haas, who shocked the world number one and two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic on Tuesday.