Murray rolls into St. Petersburg final

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ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- No. 1 seed Andy Murray of Scotland trounced Fernando Verdasco 6-0, 6-3 in a semifinal match Saturday at the St. Petersburg Open tennis tournament in Russia.

Murray coasted to victory in just 74 minutes. He broke his Spanish opponent, the third seed, three times in the first set and in the first game of the second, and went on to grab the 15th victory in his last 16 matches.

Murray already had secured a berth at the season-ending Shanghai Masters.

Verdasco, the third seed, was hampered by countless unforced errors and double faults.

"I lost to Murray in the final last year, so this time I'm hoping for revenge," Verdasco had said before Murray's dominant effort.

In Saturday's other semifinal, a battle of non-seeds, Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan topped Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-3, 6-0.

Sunday's Murray-Hanescu winner will pocket $171,000.