Andy Murray and Johanna Konta march in China Open finals

Andy Murray crushed David Ferrer in straight sets to cruise into the China Open final, his ninth of 2016. The British number one prevailed 6-2 6-3 to set up a meeting with either Milos Raonic or Grigor Dimitrov in Beijing.

The Wimbledon and Olympic champion was engaged in some brutal early exchanges with the 34-year-old Ferrer, but two breaks of serve saw him take the opening set. The velocity of Murray's groundstrokes ratcheted up in the second and an early break helped secure victory in a match lasting 90 minutes.

Victory sees Murray remain on course for his fifth title of the season and close the gap to world number one Novak Djokovic. With the Serbian sitting out the event due to a elbow injury, Murray can win 500 ranking points which will enhance hopes of topping the ATP before the end of the year.

Great Britain could claim a clean sweep of the singles titles in China, after Johanna Konta marched into the women's final and moved into the world's top 10. The Sydney-born player beat Madison Keys 7-6 4-6 6-4 to become the first British player to reach the top 10 since Jo Durie in 1984, and will face Elina Svitolina of Agnieszka Radwanska in the final on Sunday.

"I'm definitely enjoying my time here, it's my first time playing Beijing and hope to play many more times," she told BT Sport. "It's a pleasure to play here. I don't think there really is a secret. She's such a high quality player, she has such weight of shots I'm pretty sure I was cleaning the back of the court there, she was keeping me back.

"I really just tried to run down as many balls as I could and really just take the chances that I got. It's pretty special. I'm just enjoying being here, I'm just trying to prolong it as long as possible and I feel very very blessed to be coming back tomorrow to play in the final."