Murray through to Cincinnati final

Andy Murray booked his place in the final of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati for the second time in his career thanks to a gritty win over Mardy Fish, but the British number one did raise concerns over his fitness ahead of the US Open.

With Flushing Meadows just over a week away, the Scot often reached for the back of his left leg during a gruelling 6-3 7-6 (10/8) win over the American, in a match that was littered with errors and missed chances from both players.

Murray will now play either Novak Djokovic or Tomas Berdych in the final but, if he is carrying any type of injury, he will be keen to avoid another slog on court ahead of the season's final major.

"I was struggling physically in the second set, it was hot but that's not an excuse," Murray told Sky Sports afterwards. "My legs were feeling tired. It (any pain) was the conditions. I need to get stronger. This is the first tough match I've played for five or six weeks. I need to get some more endurance in me before the US Open."

It was not until his fifth break point that Murray was able to move 3-1 ahead, Fish doing his job for him, hitting long and losing serve for the first time this week.

The Scot saved a break point to cement his lead at 4-1, before squandering two more chances to win against the serve in the sixth game. He got through to 5-3 on his serve and did well to save a break point after squandering a chance to take the set, before taking the opener 6-3.

Again he needed more than one chance to win against the serve, taking the third chance he had, only for Fish to break straight back.

Serve held out to the fifth game, with Murray holding to love impressively in the fourth and, when Fish hit hard and wide trying to save two break points, Murray was 3-2 ahead.

That signalled the start of a manic period, during which Fish broke, Murray broke and then Fish broke again, with Murray's second-serve percentages down to 25.

The duo finally got their serve back on track heading in to a tie-break, although Murray could have changed all that had he taken any of the five break points that came his way during the 11th game of the set. He also staved off two set points in the 12th game, before taking a gripping tie-break, which featured three match points and two set points.