'I hope we can have a good match. He's been very consistent and is certainly the best current player on the hardcourts.

'It will be a tough match for me. I have to make sure I come up with the right game plan. I hope I can get the win.'

Murray made his stand in the third game of the second set, with that encounter ending as Benneteau thudded an overhead off the top of the net cord, the ball bouncing out for 2-1 to the Frenchman.

A clinched fist from Murray after the point marked the start of his comeback, with the five-time tournament winner in 2009 levelling the sets at one apiece and then running away in the third for victory.

Murray broke four times in Benneteau's last six service games.

'You've got such little time to react between the shots,' Murray said of the duel. 'I realised towards the end of the rally that it was starting to become pretty long. Then your legs start burning.

'But you're not really thinking anything. You're just concentrating on where you need to hit the ball.'

Last week's Montreal champion who is bidding for his third Masters shield of the season improved his record to 53-7 on the season as he aims for a sixth 2009 title Sunday.

In later quarter-finals, Rafael Nadal was facing Czech Tomas Berdych, while fourth seed Novak Djokovic was playing France's Gilles Simon.