Andy Murray beat a top-four player for the first time since the 2013 Wimbledon final when he defeated Rafael Nadal 6-2 6-0 in the semi-final of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi.
The Scot, 27, was too strong for Nadal, who displayed signs of rust in his first match since October.
He faces Novak Djokovic, who he beat to win Wimbledon, in Saturday’s final.
“It was closer than the score suggests. While he had a lot of break points I won the important ones,” Murray said.
“You never know how you will get on until it comes to match conditions, but it seems that all the pre-season hard work is paying off.”
The six-man exhibition event is the unofficial season opener with top seeds Nadal and Djokovic receiving byes to the semi-finals.
Murray had beaten another Spaniard, Feliciano Lopez, 7-6 5-7 6-4 in Thursday’s opening match and that outing clearly benefited the world number six, who looked far sharper than his opponent.