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Defending champion bites dust in Marseille

Paul-Henri Mathieu hits a backhand shot to Gilles Simon during their match on Friday in Marseille, France. PHOTO: AFP

Leading seeds Andy Murray and Marcos Baghdatis won in straight sets while defending champion Gilles Simon lost in the Open 13 quarter-finals on Friday.

Fourth-seeded Murray edged Nicolas Mahut of France 7-5, 7-6 (5), and was due to take on Paul-Henri Mathieu who overpowered Simon 6-3, 6-4 in an all-French match.

Sixth-seeded Baghdatis beat third-seeded Mikhail Youzhny 7-6 (2), 6-3 for a semi-final with Mario Ancic of Croatia, who outlasted Robin Soderling of Sweden 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2.

Mahut double-faulted at 6-5, 30-30 and conceded the first set to Murray on a long backhand volley.

The Frenchman's mistakes also ended the match. Mahut hit an easy forehand volley out at 5-5 in the tiebreaker to hand Murray his third match point, and the Scot took it on another unforced error.

"In the tiebreaker, I had an easy volley but I missed it. I'm very disappointed," Mahut told Sport Plus television.

Simon upset Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic in the previous round but he fell to 0-3 against Mathieu, who finished off Simon with his eighth ace.

"I played well on the most important points," Mathieu told Sport Plus. "I was a bit tense because I was facing a Frenchman."

Cypriot Baghdatis led Youzhny 4-1 in the tiebreaker and cruised. In the second set the 22 year-old from Limassol broke for 3-2 and served out, beating the Russian in the Marseille quarter-finals for a second straight year.

Ancic cracked 25 aces, including on match point, to oust 2004 runner-up Soderling.

After falling out of the top l0 last year while fighting a seasonlong battle with mononucleosis and a shoulder injury, Ancic is into his first semi-finals since he won at St Petersburg, Russia in October 2006.

This is his first tournament of the year after a stomach illness.
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