Murray came through in four sets 7-5 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 against his unseeded opponent and the win sets up a clash with Spaniard David Ferrer.

Ferrer beat fellow countryman and world number one Rafael Nadal 6-4 6-2 6-3 to reach the second Grand Slam semi-final of his career. Nadal, the current French Open, Wimbledon and US Open champion was aiming to be the first player since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four grand slam titles at the same time but he picked up a left thigh injury in the opening set of his quarter-final that hampered him throughout the match.

Murray has been in sparkling form in Melbourne having only dropped one set in the 5 matches he has played and he will go into the semi-final against Ferrer as favourite to progress to the final having beaten him on the two previous occasions they have played on hard-court.

The semi-final on the other side of the draw sees Switzerland’s Roger Federer take on Novak Djokovic of Serbia in a repeat of the 2010 US Open semi-final. On that occasion Djokovic won after saving two match points to reach the final, however Federer won their last match up at the ATP World Tour Finals and holds a 13-6 winning record against the Serbian.

Semi-final line up:

Federer v Djokovic (Live on BBC Red Button, Thursday from 8.30 a.m.)

Murray v Ferrer (Live on BBC Two, Friday from 8.30 a.m.)

Words by online sports reporter Jack Ross