More comfortable on clay, Andy Murray reaches Italian Open semifinals

ROME (AP) — With the French Open rapidly approaching, Andy Murray is getting more and more comfortable on clay.

The British player overcame some trouble on his service games to beat 12th-seeded David Goffin 6-1, 7-5 Friday to reach the Italian Open semifinals and improve his record on clay this year and last to 27-3.

Murray hasn't dropped a set this week and was a finalist at last week's Madrid Open.

With Roland Garros nine days away, Murray will return to No. 2 in rankings ahead of Roger Federer on Monday.

Murray's semifinal opponent at the Foro Italico will be French qualifier Lucas Pouille, who advanced when Argentine opponent Juan Monaco withdrew because of injury.

Organizers said Monaco, who upset fourth-seeded Stan Wawrinka in three sets Thursday, had a problem with his left side.

In the women's quarterfinals, Wimbledon finalist Garbine Muguruza beat 11th-seeded Timea Bacsinszky 7-5, 6-2 and will next meet either Madison Keys or Barbora Strycova.

Murray dropped his serve in the opening game of the match and three times in the second set as both he and Goffin struggled with their consistency amid swirling winds that whipped the clay up into the players' eyes.

Still, Murray improved to 4-0 in his career against Goffin, who was coming off a 6-0, 6-0 rout of eighth-seeded Tomas Berdych.

The 52nd-ranked Pouille gained a spot in the tournament as a lucky loser after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga withdrew because of an adductor injury. He beat ninth-seeded David Ferrer in straight sets in the third round and reaching the quarterfinals was already a career-best result.

"I'm very lucky and I cross the fingers it's keeping this way," Pouille said, adding that he goes to the casino now and then. "Sometimes I win but the next I lose. ... I'm not especially lucky."

It's been quite a two-week stretch for the 22-year-old Pouille. After qualifying for last week's Madrid Open, Pouille saved four match points to win his debut over Goffin in a third-set tiebreaker before losing in the second round to Sam Querrey in three sets.

Next week, Pouille will move into the top 32 of the rankings, making him a seeded player for the French Open.

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Andrew Dampf on Twitter: www.twitter.com/asdampf