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MURRAY MEDAL

Rio Olympics 2016: Andy Murray guaranteed medal after beating Kei Nishikori to make tennis final in Rio

Andy Murray

ANDY MURRAY guaranteed himself another Olympic medal by storming into the Olympic tennis final with a 6-1 6-4 win over Japan's Kei Nishikori.

But the defending champion - who could be the first to clinch back-to-back golds - caused a stir after being handed a code violation for his comment to the match umpire.

Andy Murray roars in celebration after making the Olympics tennis final
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Andy Murray roars in celebration after cruising Japan's Kei NishikoriCredit: Reuters
Murray shows how much it means to make a second Olympic singles final
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Murray shows how much it means to make a second Olympic singles finalCredit: EPA
Murray takes a seat to watch a brilliant pass find the corner of the court in the final game
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Murray watches a brilliant pass find the corner of the court in the final gameCredit: Reuters
Murray was his usual animated self and received a code violation from the umpire
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Murray was his usual animated self and received a code violation from the umpireCredit: AP:Associated Press
Japan's Kei Nishikori put up a fight in the second set but was blown away in the first
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Kei Nishikori put up a fight in the second set but was blown away in the firstCredit: Getty Images

Murray got dragged into a debate with umpire Carlos Ramos over whether he said "stupid umpire" or "stupid umpiring."

But he held his nerve after the first-set incident to break serve and then get over the line in style against Nishikori.

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Murray will grab himself a silver or gold to add to the two medals - a gold in the singles and silver in mixed doubles - that he won in London 2012.

And that will depend on the Scot's result against the winner of Spain's Rafa Nadal and Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro in Sunday's 4pm final.

Murray in full flow on the way to his 6-1 6-4 victory in the semi-final
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Murray in full flow on the way to his 6-1 6-4 victory in the semi-finalCredit: Reuters
Murray smokes a backhand on the way to his straight sets victory
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Murray smokes a backhand on the way to his straight sets victoryCredit: PA:Press Association

The arena was less than a quarter full when the players walked out - which was yet another blow to organisers after the woeful attendance when the athletics began yesterday.

Murray found top gear early on to break the Nishikori serve to lead 3-1 and then shrugged off a time violation, having a brief moan to umpire Ramos before winning the next two points.

Nishikori is one of the game's sweetest strikersbut Murray's shots were proving too hot to handle.

The world number two broke again to lead 5-1 and serve out the set with an ace.

The second set was more competitive but the 29-year-old broke to go 3-2 up and never looked back.

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