Madrid - US Open finalist Andy Murray scored his 11th victory from his last dozen matches as he hammered out a 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Gael Monfils in their quarter-final at the Madrid Masters on Friday.

Murray, one of four players already qualified for the season- ending Masters Cup next month in Shanghai, has now reached four semi- finals from his last five events since Wimbledon.

His only setback was a first-round defeat at the Beijing Olympics, which he followed up by reaching the Grand Slam title match in New York against Roger Federer.

In the Madrid semis, Murray meets Federer or Argentine talent Juan del Potro.

Murray now stands 2-1 over Frenchman Monfils, who was unable to seize the opportunity after he broke the Scot in the opening game of the match.

Murray quickly got it back and ran away to victory in 67 minutes, breaking on six of 11 chances.

Monfils ended with a double-fault as the 22-year-old piled up 31 unforced errors. Murray had 17 winners and 19 errors.

Murray improved to 46-14 on the season with three titles including the last Masters event in Cincinnati in August.

Monfils was unable to gain ground in a chase to one of the four remaining spots for Shanghai, standing still on provisional 14th.

Murray, Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are the four certain starters in the Chinese field, with four places up for grabs during the last two weeks of the regular season. (dpa)