Murray ready to raise game in last four

Andy Murray is confident he will have little problem in stepping up his performance level for Friday's Australian Open semi-final against Roger Federer, despite his low-key passage to the last four.

Murray has barely broken sweat in advancing to his fourth successive Melbourne semi, although he turned in a much-improved display against big-hitting Jeremy Chardy on Wednesday.

He accepts, though, that he will need to play better still against the 17-time major winner, and said: "I think you have to trust yourself that when you are tested you're going to play better tennis."

He added: "You never know for sure but in the build-up to the tournament I played very well.

"I haven't lost a set here yet so maybe I am expecting to play too well. But I've done a good job so far in this tournament.

"I can't be disappointed with where my game's at and I hope in the next round I play better again."

Having come through a flat, lifeless contest again a fatigued Gilles Simon on Monday, the encounter with Chardy was, at least, competitive.

But US Open champion Murray was never seriously threatened by the world number 36 and came through 6-4 6-1 6-2 in one hour 51 minutes.

"I thought I started the match pretty well," said Murray, who is bidding to become the first man in the Open era to follow up his first grand slam triumph by also winning the next major. "Then when he got the break back in the first set I got a bit tight.

"He's a tough guy to play against because of the nature of his game and his style. He goes for a lot of shots and he can play a couple of games where he misses and then three, four games when he's hot and makes very few errors. But I thought I did a pretty good job throughout the match."