Andy Murray beats Grigor Dimitrov in Thailand Open quarter-finals

Murray is seeking his third title of the season

British number one Andy Murray secured his place in the Thailand Open semi-finals with a straight-sets win over promising Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.

The top seed powered to a 6-4 6-4 victory and will face France's Gilles Simon in the last four on Saturday.

Murray later said he hoped to overtake Roger Federer and become the world number three by the end of the year.

"Roger is not playing for a couple of weeks," he said. "I'm trying to finish third which I have never done before."

Murray, 24, broke Dimitrov in the ninth game of their quarter-final on Friday, and then held his serve to love in the next game to take the first set.

The second set was also keenly fought but the world number four's quality saw him through.

"I served well again," Murray told atpworldtour.com. "He started the match pretty well and once I served a couple of break points in my second service game, the momentum was then with me for a lot of the match.

"I did not give him too many opportunities on my serve. Returning is normally one of the strongest parts of my game, so when I served well I tended to put pressure on him and he missed a few shots at the end of both sets."

Simon fought from a set down to beat Germany's Matthias Bachinger 3-6 6-3 6-2.

Gael Monfils and Donald Young are in the other semi-final in Bangkok on Saturday.