World No. 2 Andy Murray beat his 21-year-old compatriot Kyle Edmund 7-6(9), 6-2 in the quarter-finals of the China Open here on Friday.

Murray, who leads the ATP World Tour with 57 match wins this year, encountered a huge challenge when Edmund earned a 5-2 lead in the tie-break of the first set. The World No.2 levelled it in 5-5 but wasted four set points before he claimed the vitory with a forehand passing shot.

World No. 54 Edmund surged into a 2-0 lead in the second set but Murray fought back with six games in a row to set up a semi-final clash with Spain's David Ferrer, who overturned Germany's Alexander Zverev 6-7 (4), 6-1, 7-5.

"It will be hard, for sure. Every match against him, he certainly makes you earn it. There's not many short points. He's a great returner, moves extremely well. He makes every match tough." Murray said about his semifinal tie against Ferrer.

"You always have to play very well to win against him. If you don't, there's a good chance you lose the match. I'll have to play very well tomorrow against him and I expect it to be very hard." Murray said.

Talking about the performance of Edmund, Murray believed his Davis Cup teammate will have a bright future.

"With Kyle, I obviously see it happening more regularly because I practice with him and follow his matches closer than some of the other young guys. But, you know, this is a different surface to what we played on on the grass at Queen's." said Murray, who beat Edmund at the Queen's Club in London earlier this year.

"He made it very tough for me. He's improving, yeah, at a pretty solid pace just now. His ranking is moving in the right direction. Last few months, he's had a lot of very good wins against top-20 opponents. Yeah, he's getting there. If he keeps going on the path he's on just now, he'll be up at the top of the game very soon." the three-time Grand Slam champion added. Endit

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