British number one Andy Murray [ Images ] reached the Marseille [ Images ] Open semi-finals with a 7-5, 7-6 win over Frenchman Nicolas Mahut on Friday.

The first set was tight until Mahut dropped his serve in the last game with a double fault followed by a backhand error.

World number 11 Murray, seeded fourth in the indoor event, spurned two match points in the 10th game of the second set before going through 7-5 in the tiebreak after the unseeded Mahut hit a forehand wide.

"I thought it was an excellent match," said Murray, who started the year with a title in Doha but was then knocked out in the first round of the Australian Open [ Images ] before a knee injury forced him to withdraw from the Davis Cup tie with Argentina.

"I served a lot better than I did in my last two matches," added Murray, who downed 14 aces. "My serve is an area I've worked a lot on since coming back from Australia [ Images ]."

The Scot next faces another Frenchman, eighth-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu, who reached the last four by beating compatriot and holder Gilles Simon 6-3 6-4.

Simon, who was impressive on Thursday knocking out Serbia's Novak Djokovic [ Images ], the Australian Open champion and top seed here, was never in contention against Mathieu.

Simon said he was hampered by an abdominal injury sustained in the win over Djokovic, adding: "I couldn't serve properly".

Murray and Mathieu have met once, last year in Miami [ Images ], with Murray winning in three sets after saving two match points.

Marcos Baghdatis [ Images ] of Cyprus, seeded sixth, upset third seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia [ Images ] 7-6, 6-3 to set up a semi-final with Mario Ancic.

Croatia's [ Images ] Ancic, who has dropped out of the top 100 after a year away from the game because of mononucleosis, served 25 aces to knock out Swede Robin Soderling [ Images ] 6-3, 6-7, 6-2.