Indian Wells 2015: Novak Djokovic takes charge in semi-final to beat lowly Andy Murray

The Serb will play either Roger Federer or Milos Raonic in the final

Novak Djokovic broke Andy Murray's serve four times to record a straight sets 6-2 6-3 victory (Getty)

World No 1 Novak Djokovic crushed Andy Murray 6-2 6-3 to reach the final of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. The Serb will play either Roger Federer of Switzerland and Canadian Milos Raonic on Sunday after a dominant display.

Djokovic took just one hour 28 minutes to secure victory and has now won six straight matches against the Scot since his defeat in the 2013 Wimbledon final and owns a 17-8 record in their career meetings.

“It went really well from the beginning,” said Djokovic. “I came out with the right intensity and Andy made a lot of unforced errors. I just played solid and I am happy with the performance.

“I was expecting a battle, it always is with Andy but today I guess he wasn’t as close as where he wanted to be on a high quality. I just hung in there and played tactically right.”

The defending champion broke Murray three times to win the opening set and never looked in danger of needing a third set to secure his place in the final.

Djokovic, who has won three times in Indian Wells, looked sharp right from the outset while Murray made just two first serves in six points in his opening service game, which he lost. Djokovic achieved his second break in game six when Murray netted a forehand.

Murray gave himself some hope by getting a break back, a superb point setting him up at 15-40 even if the game was clinched with a net-cord. But he plummeted to 0-40 on his own serve and Djokovic was ruthless, taking advantage of his first set point and consequently all three of his break points in the set. The second set saw Djokovic again break in the second game, aided by a superb lob to Murray’s backhand corner which sent the game to deuce.

Murray had to work hard in his next service game before holding, and Djokovic then saved two break points to go to 4-1 and on to 5-2.

Murray slipped from 30-0 up to 30-40 and was facing a match point, but forced Djokovic to serve the match out. The Serbian set up three more match points at 40-0 and though he let two slip away - the first with a double fault - he made the third count.

Serena Williams had to withdraw before the start of her BNP Paribas Open semi-final at Indian Wells due to a knee problem, cutting short her return to the event following a 14-year boycott.

Williams has been absent from the California tournament since winning the event in 2001, when she claimed that she suffered racist abuse from fans.

“I was on the practice court yesterday and everything was going well, but literally the last two minutes I went for a serve and felt a super sharp pain in my knee,” she said.

“I even did an injection. I’ve never done an injection before. If this were any other event I probably wouldn’t have considered it. But I wanted to give 200 per cent. It just wasn’t meant to be this year.”

The decision put her opponent, Simona Halep, into the final against Jelena Jankovic, In the other semi-final, Sabine Lisicki, who endured a three-set quarter-final nailbiter on Thursday, took the first set before Jelena Jankovic stormed back, the Serb winning 3-6 6-3 6-1.