Murray books Brisbane final spot

Top seed Andy Murray saw off the spirited challenge of Australian teenager Bernard Tomic to reach the final of the ATP Brisbane International.

Murray - under the watchful eye of new coach Ivan Lendl - was made to work hard in the early exchanges by the 19-year-old Queenslander, who looked far from overawed in his first ATP Tour semi-final, but the British number one's class soon told as he posted a 6-3 6-2 victory.

The Scot will play Alexandr Dolgopolov in Sunday's final after the Ukrainian earlier overcame Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-3 6-4 in the first semi-final.

After the match, Murray told the ATP website: "I served very well today, which is important against Bernard.

"He started very well, but I managed to get into a lot of long rallies at the end of the first set and got through.

"I'm moving so much better; it's just a huge part of my game. When I move well, the rest of my game goes well and I made it difficult for Bernard to hit loads of clean winners and got into loads of long rallies. When I do that, that's when I play my best tennis."

Dolgopolov dropped only nine points on his own serve as he brushed past Simon in 82 minutes, adding to previous victories over Radek Stepanek, Igor Andreev and Alejandro Falla.

And Murray added: "[I'm expecting] similar to today's match. He's a very unorthodox player, uses a lot of slice and can generate a lot of power like Bernard.

"I'm going to have to be on my game, play very consistently and hopefully serve like I did today; it makes the game so much easier."