Perfect start to year for Murray as straight-sets win over Blake sets up exhibition match with Swiss in Abu Dhabi

ANDY Murray got his new year off to the perfect start with a straight-sets victory over American world No 10 James Blake in the quarter-finals of the inaugural Abu Dhabi World Tennis Championship.

The Scot's comfortable 6-2, 6-2 win yesterday sets up a seventh showdown with world No 2 Roger Federer in the semi-finals today.

Murray is one of only three men on the tour to hold a career winning record over the great Swiss – world No 1 Rafael Nadal and Slovak Dominik Hrbaty are the others – and he beat him three times out of four last season.

The one defeat, however, came when it really mattered in Murray's first ever grand slam final as Federer won his 13th major title by outclassing the 21-year-old from Dunblane in the US Open final at Flushing Meadows.

Murray enjoyed a short festive break at home in Scotland for Christmas and he seemed fit and refreshed as he dismantled his rusty-looking opponent. Murray was playing Blake for only the second time, the American having won their first encounter on clay in Hamburg in 2006. But the Scot is a much-improved player now and dominated from start to finish.

"It's the first time I've played James in about three years so I expected it to be a tough match," said Murray, "but I played much better than expected for the first match of the year." Looking ahead to renewing his rivalry with Federer, Murray added: "I'll try and keep the same form. This is great preparation for the Australian Open. It should be a fun match."

Fun is very much the name of the game for the world's best in the Gulf state. The six-man exhibition tournament has no bearing on ATP ranking points – that quest begins next week when Murray will defend his Qatar Open title in Doha – although there is the small matter of a $250,000 winner-takes-all prize pot.

The first grand slam of the year, the Australian Open, gets under way in Melbourne on 19 January.

Federer and Nadal both received byes into the last four, with the world No 1 facing Nikolay Davydenko today after the Russian beat Andy Roddick 6-4, 6-4.

It was Roddick's first match under Tim Henman's former coach Larry Stefanki. "Nikolay played a great game," said the American. "I could have done better but this was just my first match of the year."