Andy Murray eased into the final of the Nottingham Open after defeating Portugal’s Nuno Borges in straight sets to continue his winning streak.
The 36-year-old is bidding to win a second successive title on the second-tier Challenger Tour having triumphed in Surbiton last week and is yet to drop a set in Nottingham.
Murray carried his red-hot form into Saturday’s meeting with Portuguese Borges, ranked 73, to win 6-3 6-2 in an hour and 12 minutes.
It completed another memorable day for the home players after Katie Boulter and Jodie Burrage set up a very rare all-British final in the WTA event.
Murray broke Borges’ serve at the first opportunity and was clinical in the first set. The only blip came when he dropped serve after breaking early in the second but he put it behind him quickly and won the final four games.
“I thought the start of the match was really good,” said Murray. “The second set was quite scrappy I think from both ends.
“The second set wasn’t so good but the first set was high level, I was really happy with it. You’re not going to play your best all the time. There are going to be blips and I managed to deal with it OK.”
Murray completed another memorable day for the British players
He will play Frenchman Arthur Cazaux, ranked No 181 in the world, in Sunday’s final after the 20-year-old defeated Dominik Koepfer 7-5 6-2.
“I’ve played a lot of youngsters recently and it’s always tough,” said Murray. “We practised with each other recently so hopefully not too many surprises.”
