Andy Murray put himself one step nearer to his purpose of being seeded at Wimbledon as he defeated Jordan Thompson 7-6(5) 6-3 within the Lexus Surbiton Trophy semi-final. Currently sitting at No 43 on this planet, Murray should get to the highest 32 to be seeded and he has already picked up some further rating factors by surpassing his outcome from final 12 months.

Murray was again within the semi-final of the Surbiton Challenger for the second 12 months in a row, having misplaced at this stage 12 months in the past. Facing world No 76 Thompson, the Brit obtained off to a quick begin as he broke and raced to a 3-0 lead.

But he was damaged to like, sending a ball huge to reward his Australian opponent the sport. There was nothing separating each males as they headed right into a first-set tiebreak and it was Murray who drew first blood, roaring as he secured a mini-break.

Thompson obtained again on serve however handed the second seed a set level when he dumped the ball into the online and Murray fired down an ace to take the opener 7-6(5) after an hour and 9 minutes.

There was some drama early within the second set when rain halted play whereas Murray had a break level on the Thompson serve. The world No 76 saved it when play resumed however shortly relinquished the break, with the Brit placing himself in touching distance of the ultimate.

Murray raced in the direction of victory when he broke Thompson for a second time within the set and the 29-year-old acquired a code violation for ball abuse as he let his frustration out. It was Murray's flip to get damaged as he served for the victory, giving it away on a double fault.

But he managed to interrupt straight again to safe the victory, reserving his spot in one other Challenger closing a number of weeks after lifting the title in Aix-en-Provence.