Murray cruises into Marseille final

Tennis: British number one Andy Murray coasted into the final of the Open 13 in Marseille, crushing Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2 6…

Tennis:British number one Andy Murray coasted into the final of the Open 13 in Marseille, crushing Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2 6-2 in the semi-final.

The Scot, who missed Great Britain's Davis Cup assignment against Argentina last week due to concerns over a knee complaint, was fighting fit as he brushed aside the Frenchman in straight sets to set up a meeting with Marcos Baghdatis or Mario Ancic.

The world number 11 edged out another French opponent, Nicolas Mahut, 7-5 7-6 (7-5) in just under an hour and a quarter in yesterday's quarter-final.

This time he was done in just an hour and two minutes as he broke twice in each set.

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He started strongly, immediately breaking the home favourite, who helped the 20-year-old with a wasteful double fault.

The next went with serve as Murray went 2-0 up.

Mathieu then held serve to take it to 2-1 but Murray maintained his advantage, winning the fourth without losing a point to go 3-1 up.

The Briton seemed to be breezing it as he went 4-1 up by breaking Mathieu's serve a second time.

There were no further breaks but Murray served out to take the opener 6-2.

The Scot looked to continue that momentum in the first game of the next set but after getting to break point he allowed his opponent to rally before holding serve.

It was only a brief reprieve for the 26-year-old, though, as Murray was soon back to his irrepressible best, reeling off three consecutive games to take gain a commanding advantage.

Murray and Mathieu traded games without incident to leave the scores at 4-2 but the Frenchman was overwhelmed as Murray broke again to wrap up the next two games in quick succession and walk out 6-2 6-2 winner and book a place in tomorrow's final.