Indian Wells: Andy Murray sets new record in reaching semi-finals

Andy Murray is now just three victories from becoming the 46th man in the Open era to win 500 matches

Andy Murray set a new record for Open-era wins by a British man after beating Feliciano Lopez to reach the semi-finals at Indian Wells.

The world number four equalled Tim Henman's 496-victory mark in defeating Adrian Mannarino on Wednesday and moved clear with a 6-3 6-4 win over Lopez.

Murray, 27, is now unbeaten in 10 career meetings with the Spaniard.

Novak Djokovic awaits in Saturday's BNP Paribas Open last four after opponent Bernard Tomic withdrew with injury.

Lopez's dismal record against Murray never looked in any danger of being improved as the Briton took control of the match from the outset.

Comfortable holds of service were a feature for Murray as Lopez failed to find his rhythm, and a single break of serve in the fourth game proved sufficient to take the opener.

Murray broke early in the second set before finally being asked a few questions in the next game, defending break points before moving 3-1 ahead.

Andy Murray's latest win over Feliciano Lopez was completed in 92 minutes

He unlocked the Lopez serve for a third time on the back of two wonderful shots. First, a superb passing return set up break point, which he converted with a perfect lob to the back of the court.

Murray wobbled briefly when serving for the match at 5-2, allowing Lopez a first break of the contest, but he held in his next service game to get over the line.

A rested world number one now lies in wait after Djokovic progressed without hitting a ball due to the withdrawal of Australian 32nd seed Tomic, who has a back injury.

However, Murray told BBC Sport: "I don't want to talk about advantages or disadvantages. When we start the match on Saturday both of us should be fairly fresh."

"If I play at the level I've been playing so far, I'll give myself a chance, but it's tougher to maintain the highest possible levels against the best players," he added. "It'll be a good test for me and one I'm looking forward to."

Asked if his progress in the tournament to date was satisfactory in itself, Murray cited significant progress from last year.

"If you expect to win every tournament, you'll never get any enjoyment out of the sport because it's tough to win every week. No-one does. Even the best players in the world are losing 14 or 15 games a year," he said.

"If I lose, I'll be disappointed but you can still look back on a tournament you haven't won and be happy. So far this has been big progress from where I was at this stage last year."