Murray through to semis

Top seed Andy Murray will meet home hope Fernando Verdasco in the semi-final of the Valencia Open 500.

The British No.1 was inconsistent in the first set but improved to secure a 6-4 6-2 success over Albert Montanes in 74 minutes.

After opening with a break of serve, the world No.4 relinquished the advantage in the sixth game after firing a backhand wide.

But he took the upper hand again three games later with a perfect backhand drop shot and served out courtesy of an emphatic ace down the middle.

Murray was a class above in the second set and broke twice in succession to move into a 4-0 lead.

The Spaniard stopped the rot in the fifth game and he created a break chance for himself with Murray serving for the match at 5-2 but some big serving and a pinpoint forehand sent the Scot into the late four.

Verdasco beat fellow countryman Tommy Robredo in equally comfortable fashion, triumphing 6-3 6-2.

The fourth seed was never broken - Robredo creating just two chances to do so - and punished his opponent's second serve to win three receiving games himself.

Verdasco is the only Spanish player remaining in the competition after second seed Nikolay Davydenko ended the hopes of Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in straight sets.

A solitary break saw the Russian claim the opening set 6-4, while a topsy-turvy second went into a tie-break after two breaks apiece.

Davydenko prevailed 7-3 in the breaker to set up a clash with compatriot Mikhail Youzhny, who upset fifth-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-4 6-4.

A solitary break in each set was enough to account for the wasteful Simon, who squandered 11 break points over the course of the one-hour, 36-minute encounter.

Roger Federer made routine progress to set up an all-hometown semi-final at the Davidoff Swiss indoors in Basel.

The world No.1 strolled past Russian Evgeny Korolev 6-3 6-2 and will face unheralded local wildcard Marco Chiudinelli for a place in the final.

Federer served five aces and capitalised on his only break point - saving two from Korolev - as he took the opening set 6-3.

And two more breaks in the second saw him win in 55 minutes.

Chiudinelli, ranked 73rd in the world, routed France's Richard Gasquet 6-1 6-3 in just over an hour, serving 13 aces along the way to set up the prestigious clash against Federer.

The pair, who have never met before on the ATP Tour, were born just a month apart in 1981, both in the host city.

The remaining quarter-finals were more closely contested, Radek Stepanek and Novak Djokovic - seeded fifth and second respectively - winning through.

Djokovic ended the hopes of another Swiss player, sixth seed Stanislas Wawrinka, after a hard-fought two hours and 19 minutes.

Wawrinka took the opener 6-3, serving six of his 13 aces, but was pegged back in a second-set tie-break.

And Djokovic completed his comeback win by taking the final set 6-2.

Stepanek also came from a set down to dump out fourth seed Marin Cilic.

The Croatian took the opener 6-4, courtesy of two breaks of serve, but was ultimately made to pay for not converting his chances.

Cilic had twice as many break points - eight -over the course of the match, but Stepanek's 100% conversion rate at those key moments saw him secure a 4-6 6-3 6-3 win in two hours, two minutes, and a meeting with Serbia's world No.3.