Andy Murray will meet Novak Djokovic in the Shanghai Rolex Masters semi-final after outclassing Tomas Berdych.
The British No 1 tore past his long-time Czech rival in a dominant fashion and will be rewarded by a final four tie against the world's highest ranked player, with whom he also shares a storied history.
Murray defeated Berdych 6-1 6-3 after Djokovic had eased past Bernard Tomic 7-6 6-1 in his respective quarter-final earlier on Friday.
The Dunblane man established a very early lead against Berdych, who he previously shared a 6-6 head-to-head record with, which he never relinquished.
A break in the third game of the match edged him ahead, by which time both players had made complaints to the umpire about each other in what had already become a feisty encounter.
The tie looked ominous as Murray superbly defended two break points in the following game before completing back-to-back breaks himself as Berdych wilted with a double-fault.
With the match swiftly passing him by, Berdych conceded a third straight break as Murray confirmed the set with a big backhand winner.
A comfortable opener was followed by further superiority from Murray, as Berdych's service woes continued to trouble him. Despite a 6'5" frame he wasn't able to test Murray with the ball in hand and gave away another break, the fourth on the bounce, as Murray went 3-0 up in the second set.
Sporting the body language of frustration, Berdych finally held serve to get his name on the scoreboard but Murray charged to a 4-1 lead.
And although the Czech's serve gradually found its rhythm with two more holds, Murray refused to give away his own service games and forced the conclusion of their quarter-final after an hour and 19 minutes.
No comments:
Post a Comment