Andy Murray seals ruthless win over Milos Raonic in Monte Carlo

Andy Murray has reached the semi-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters after a ruthless straight-sets win over Milos Raonic.

The British No 1 had completed a gritty comeback victory over Benoit Paire in the third round, but made far more comfortable progress against Raonic, sealing a 6-2 6-0 win in just over an hour.

Murray, who is playing in his first clay event of the year, had been a few points from defeat against Paire and produced a dramatically improved performance as he raced into the last four for the third time in his career.

Raonic is one of the biggest servers on the ATP Tour, but did not send down a single ace during a dominant display of returning from Murray. 

"The two most important shots in tennis, I did really well today," said Murray, who will face Rafael Nadal in the semis. 

"I thought I served really well. After the first game of the match, I didn't think he really had any chances on my serve and my return was very good today.

"I was getting a good read on the serve. When he was missing the first serve, I was being very offensive on the second serve return, putting him under pressure there. It maybe made him go for it a little bit more on the first serve and his percentage dropped a little bit.

"When I was in the rallies, I was able to dictate from there. But the serve and the return were the best they have been in a while."