Andy Murray put on a dazzling display for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as he crushed Nicolas Almagro to move within one win of an Olympic medal.

Murray produced his best performance of the tournament in front of the Royal couple on Court One at Wimbledon.

The Scot raced to a first set win in just over half an hour before Almagro suffered a recurrence of a shoulder injury and crumbled in the second to leave Murray with a superb 6-4 6-1 win.

The British number one will now play either Novak Djokovic or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last four.

The only disappointing aspect of the Scot's victory was the fact that around 700 empty seats were visible halfway through the first set while Murray Mound was packed outside.

Murray started off nervously yesterday, losing the first set against Marco Baghdatis, but there was no repeat performance this afternoon as the Scot came flying out of the blocks.

William and Kate looked in relaxed mood as they enjoyed their afternoon in the sun, but on court Murray was intent on getting down to business.

Almagro is one of the form players in the world, but Murray challenged his opponent hard in the first game before firing down two aces to hold.

Almagro showed flashes of brilliance with some powerful forehand shots, but the Scot was clearly on top, engineering three break points in the fifth game with some excellent tennis.

The Spaniard buckled under pressure, double-faulting to gift Murray the break and the British number one fired down four successive aces in the following game to stamp his authority on the match.

Murray held to love twice to take the set after just 34 minutes and the 25-year-old's chances of victory were boosted when Almagro suffered a shoulder injury that required on-court treatment from the physio.

The interruption failed to knock Murray out of his stride as he broke Almagro to love at the start of the second, the winning shot a peach of a cross-court forehand.

Almagro's frustration got the better of him in the next game as he angrily punched his racquet into the turf.

Murray suffered a slight wobble in the fourth game when he double-faulted twice, but held and then broke his opponent again in the following game with a brilliant forehand.

The Scot held superbly before breaking the Spaniard again in the seventh game to seal a victory that was greeted by a standing ovation from the crowd, including the Royal couple.