Murray seals semi-final spot at Nottingham in bid for Wimbledon seeding

Andy Murray's mission to enter Wimbledon as a seeded player took another step in the right direction as the three-time Grand Slam champion held off Dominic Stricker to reach the last four of the LTA's Rothesay Open Nottingham. Murray, riding a seven-match winning streak following his triumph in Surbiton and two opening wins in Nottingham, reached the semi-finals of a second straight Challenger Tour event with a 7-6(2) 7-5 win over the Swiss.

Ad Stricker — a former junior prodigy who has trained with Stan Wawrinka in recent months — certainly provided a stern test, making some inroads on Murray's serve which had been impenetrable in his opening matches. WTA NottinghamMurray wins eighth consecutive match to reach Nottingham Open semi15 HOURS AGO But the 36-year-old responded after being broken for 1-3 in the second set, pushing aside frustration at some questionable line calls to rally and close the match out in straight sets.

«It's obviously brilliant,» said Murray afterwards. «It was a really tight match today against one of the best young players in the world.

He has a really good game, huge shots from the back of the court, but also a really nice touch up at the net and I'm really glad to get through that one as it was very close. »I thought in the first set tiebreak I played really well, came up with some really good passing shots to get me that tiebreak and in the second set, I think when I broke back immediately when he went 3-1 up, it gave me the momentum back.

«I felt like I was creating a lot of chances, and that's the best I've played across the last two weeks in terms of how I hit the ball. That was really positive.» Reaching the semi-final in Nottingham keeps Murray's dream of being seeded at Wimbledon alive,