Top seeded Andy Murray, who is looking for his first ATP title of the year, beat Alejandro Falla 7-6 (7/3), 6-1 in the quarter-finals of the 600,000 dollar Farmers Classic on Friday.

Murray becomes first Brit to reach semis at Los Angeles tennis

Top seeded Andy Murray, who is looking for his first ATP title of the year, beat Alejandro Falla 7-6 (7/3), 6-1 in the quarter-finals of the 600,000 dollar Farmers Classic on Friday.

Murray advances to the semi-finals where he will face Spanish fourth seed Feliciano Lopez who beat struggling American James Blake 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4.

This was the second match for the 23-year-old Murray since sacking his coach Miles Maclagan just four weeks before the start of the US Open.

Murray says he likes the way his match preparation is at the moment and is in no rush to replace Maclagan. The Scot plans to continue to work a few months a year with former Spanish star Alex Corretja pending the appointment of a new coach.

"I don't have coaches now. Alex is doing 10-12 weeks a year with me. Between then I want to work with someone else.

"I have some people in mind but I may wait until the end of the season to get a new coach," he said.

Defending champion Sam Querrey also won Friday needing three sets to beat German veteran Rainer Schuettler 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (9/7).

Murray hammered five aces and won 76 percent of his first serve points compared to Falla's one ace and just 66 percent serving at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on the campus of the University of California Los Angeles.

Murray, who took a late wild card to get into the draw, is making his Los Angeles debut. He is the first Brit to reach the semis in the history of the tournament.

World No. 4 Murray has enjoyed success in California in the past, winning twice in San Jose (2007, 2006). He finished runner-up at Indian Wells last year.

Querrey, who has won three tournaments this season, served well in the tiebreaker.

He'll face sixth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic in Saturday's semi-finals. The Serbian beat No. 3 Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 7-5.

The 34-year-old Schuettler is the oldest player in the draw. He served for the match in the third, but then committed three key unforced errors in the tiebreaker to lose.

"I played a little bit too defensive," Schuettler said.

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