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

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.

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.

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.

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.