Murray shows no mercy in rush to Brisbane final

The world No 4 put the local hope Bernard Tomic to the sword (AP)

Andy Murray subjected theAustralian Bernard Tomic to a 6-3 6-2 defeat to deflate local fans and setup an intriguing final today with Alexandr Dolgopolov at the Brisbane International.

The world No 4 ended Dolgopolov's barnstorming run to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open last year and appears in fine fettle for a rematch after disposing of Tomic, a Wimbledon quarter-finalist last year, with clinical efficiency.

After trading baseline blows for the opening games at the Pat Rafter Arena, Murray pounced at 4-3 in the first set to break his 19-year-old opponent, then raced to a 2-0 lead in the second. Tomic took a medical time-out at 2-1 to have his foot strapped but the break did little to stall Murray's momentum as the Scot wrapped up the match in just 69 minutes, bullying his young opponent with strong serving and blasting winners from all angles. "He started very well but I managed to get into a lot of long rallies at the end of the first set and got through," Murray said. "I'm just moving so much better. It's such a huge part of my game so when I move well the rest of my game goes well and made it hard for Bernard to hit lots of clean winners."

Murray will meet Dolgopolov after the pony-tailed Ukrainian ground down Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-3 6-4 in the first semi-final. Dolgopolov broke Simon twice to wrap up the first set comfortably before holding him off in the tighter second set. The 23-year-old had to take a medical time-out when leading 3-2 in the second and had his right leg massaged but returned to close out the match with a pair of blistering forehands down the line.

Dologopolov said: "I'm really happy, I've been playing better and better through the matches... It's going to be a really exciting final, I think."

In the women's final, hard-hitting Estonian Kaia Kanepi overwhelmed Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova 6-2 6-1 to win her second WTA title.