Andy Murray comfortably defeated reigning US Open champion Marin Cilic to set up a China Open semi-final showdown against Novak Djokovic.

The 27-year-old British number one needed just one hour and 38 minutes to see off his Croatian opponent and current world number nine 6-1 6-4 in their last-eight meeting at the National Tennis Centre in Beijing on Friday.

And as Murray looks to build on his success at last week’s Shenzen Open and boost his hopes of reaching the end-of-season ATP World Tour Finals in London next month, he must now overcome a huge obstacle in the shape of 27-year-old top seed Djokovic, who is chasing his fifth title in China.

The Serbian won his 22nd consecutive game at the tournament with a 6-2 6-4 success over Grigor Dimitrov in the first quarter-final.

Djokovic eased to the first set as he broke the Bulgarian in the fourth and eight games and, while Dimitrov showed more resistance in the second, it was not enough to halt his opponent’s charge to the semi-finals.

World number one Rafael Nadal is in action later on Friday against Martin Klizan and the Spaniard is 1.08 to reach the semi-finals, while his opponent can be backed at 7.66.