Murray & girls great for Britain

ANDY MURRAY will go for gold again after ruthlessly dispatching Kei Nishikori in a one-sided semi-final.

The defending champ, who is guaranteed his third Olympic medal, recovered from the brink against both Fabio Fognini and Steve Johnson in the last two rounds.

On paper, this was a big step up against the fourth seed but Murray was superb from start to finish and did not face a break point in a 6-1 6-4 victory.

The arena was less than a quarter full when the players walked out and that did not improve much during the match.

Murray never found top gear against Johnson and knew he needed to play better to give himself a shot at gold.

He did that right from the start, breaking Nishikori’s serve to lead 3-1 and then BRITAIN’S Jessica Ennis-Hill and Katarina Johnson-Thompson were both in medals contention after yesterday’s morning session of the heptathlon.

London 2012 Olympic champion Ennis-Hill jumped 6.34m in the long jump, the fifth of the seven events at Rio Olympic stadium.

Johnson-Thompson, 23, suffered a long jump shocker at the Beijing world championships last August but had no such problems this time.

She posted a first-round 6.51m which showed she had banished any potential demons.

Belgian star Nafissatou Thiam, 21, was also in the mix after she produced a personal best of 6.58m.

The final two events, the javelin and the 800m, took place early today.

Ennis-Hill, 30, won the world title last August in Beijing – just 13 months after she gave birth to son Reggie.

Before these Games, it is believed only two athletes have won Olympic gold and then taken time off to have a baby before successfully defending their crown.

They are Australian sprint hurdler Shirley Strickland in 1956 and Cameroon triple-jumper Francoise Mbango Etone in 2008. shrugging off a time violation, having a brief moan at umpire Carlos Ramos before winning the next two points.

The world No.2 broke again to lead 5-1 and served out the set with an ace.

Murray had cause for confidence going into the match having won six of his previous seven matches against Nishikori but their last meeting in Davis Cup in March turned into a five-set marathon after the Scot had won the opening two sets.

Murray maintained his momentum and broke Nishikori again for 3-2 in the second set with a lot of help from his opponent.

That proved to be all the advantage he needed as he served out to take the set 6-4 and storm into the final today.