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Andy Murray will face Roger Federer in the semi-finals of the Indian Wells Masters after winning their quarter-finals

Murray spoiled Ivan Ljubicic's birthday celebrations with a 7-5 7-6(6) victory, holding his nerve in a tight second-set tiebreak.

Meanwhile, Federer extended his record to 3-0 against the in-form Fernando Verdasco with a dominant 6-3 7-6 victory.

British number one Murray seized upon a nervy start by his opponent to break in the opening game of the match as Ljubicic began sluggishly, particularly with his serve.

But the Croatian broke back in the sixth game, capitalising on some loose play from Murray to level, with his own serve beginning to look much more convincing.

The set looked to be heading towards a tie-break, but for a ruthless passage of play from Murray, who broke Ljubicic again when his opponent tamely pushed a forehand into the net.

The fourth seed then served out to take the first set, leaving Ljubicic to attempt to claw his way back into the match in the draining Californian desert sunshine.

The second set was a relatively tepid affair from the outset, with both players holding and doing little to trouble the other's serve, before a dubious line-call sparked the match back into action.

Ljubicic was the aggrieved player as Hawkeye contradicted a line-call, leaving the Croatian to remonstrate angrily with the umpire.

Ljubicic claimed that the Hawkeye operator selected the second bounce of the ball rather than the first, which was well wide.

Clearly shaken by the incident, Ljubicic squandered the ascendency of serving first, leaving Murray in an similar situation in the second set to the first: with the opportunity to close out the match.

But this time Murray was less clinical. With Ljubicic forcing him into an extended rally at 40-30 down, the Scot capitulated, poorly stroking the ball into the net to relinquish the advantage.

A second set tie-break followed, and Ljubicic took the first mini-break at 4-3, before immediately volleying wide of Murray's back-hand side.

But Murray was commanding when his opportunity arose. Ljubicic over-hit a regulation forehand to leave his opponent the chance to clinch the match on his serve, which he duly did.

"(At the start of the week) I wasn't thinking about the semi-finals at all," added Murray, who has already won two ATP titles this year. "Each day I've worked on my game and tried to get a little better.

"I have done that with each match. And in the next match hopefully I'll play even better than I did today.

"It was very hot and very breezy on the court. From one end, it was difficult to dictate the points - but I felt fine.

"Physically I was moving well again, hitting the ball better as the match went on."

Verdasco was expected to cause Federer a number of problems having hit a stellar streak of form over the last few months, but the Spaniard was never allowed to get going.

Federer broke the left-hander's serve in both the middle and at the end of the opening set, before earning a further advantage with a break in the fourth game of the second set.

Verdasco broke back and had the chance to serve out for the second set before the former champ hit form and clinched the breaker to secure his passage.

"I played well for one and a half sets and then Fernando made the whole match get a little tight," said Federer, the winner of three straight Indian Wells titles from 2004-06.

"I was happy to get through in two sets. I don't think I deserved to win that second set."

The other two men's quarter-finals take place on Friday, when Nadal will take on sixth-seeded Argentinian Juan Martin del Potro and defending champion Djokovic clashes with seventh-seeded American Andy Roddick.

Dan Quarrell / Eurosport