Andy Murray made it 10 wins out of 10 against Feliciano Lopez at Indian Wells – and 497 for his career to surpass Tim Henman as Britain's most prolific male player of the open era.
A one-sided 6-3 6-4 victory earned Murray a semi-final clash against Novak Djokovic in the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Murray did not drop a point in his first two service games but forced 12th seed Lopez to two deuces in his first and broke in the next for a 3-1 lead.
A third love hold followed and though he finally dropped a point on his serve in the seventh game of the set, he was untroubled in wrapping it up 6-3.
The Scot then broke serve in the opening game of the second and held his advantage, Lopez still having to battle hard just to hang in the match against an opponent he has never beaten.
Murray broke again to leave himself serving for the match with new balls – but with the finish line in sight, he dropped his serve for the first time as Lopez took pace off the ball and produced some deft angled shots. Lightning could not strike twice, though, and fourth seed Murray wrapped up the match in his next service game.
World number one Djokovic was handed a progression by walkover after Australian Bernard Tomic pulled out with a back injury. And Murray said: "Against him you're going to have to a play high-quality match, you can't have any part of your game not working against him.
"He'll obviously be fresh with a couple of days' rest so it'll be a tough test but it's one I'm looking forward to." Murray's perfect 10 against Lopez fits in with his good overall record against left-handed players – a fact he puts down to his elder brother Jamie.
"My brother's a lefty so when I was a kid it's all I practiced against up to the age of 12," he said. "I see the spin almost more naturally than against right-handers.
"I passed very well today and that stopped him feeling comfortable up to the net, it meant he spent a bit more time at the back and I was able to dictate the match."
