Andy Murray battles into French Open semi-finals

Andy Murray has battled past David Ferrer in four sets to reach the semi-finals of the French Open.

The Brit will now take on world number one Novak Djokovic following his victory over defending champion Rafael Nadal.

Both players struggled to hold serve early on, with six breaks shared between them. Murray then looked likely to claim the set as he brought up two break points at 6-5, but he squandered both of them as Ferrer forced a tie-break.

Murray asserted his dominance in the breaker, powering into a 6-1 lead before closing it out 7-6(4) at the fourth time of asking.

The two-time Grand Slam champion successfully defended three break points at the start of the second, and from there he was able to take it 6-2 inside 40 minutes to tighten his grip on the contest.

There was little to separate the two men in the third as the errors began to mount. Murray managed to bring up a match point at 6-5, though Ferrer dug in to fight back, holding off the Scot before breaking to take the set 7-5 and get himself back in contention.

With both players having exchanged hefty blows heading into the fourth set, Murray started to pull away from the Spaniard. The world number three accelerated to go 5-0 up with some clinical hitting before serving out the match 7-6(4) 6-2 5-7 6-1.