Britain’s Andy Murray reached the Masters Cup semi-finals with a 6-4, 6-2 victory yesterday over Gilles Simon of France.
Murray was at his best on the key points, breaking Simon twice in each set and fending off seven of the Frenchman’s eight break opportunities.
“It was one of my best matches in recent months,” Murray said — quite a statement for a player who recently ran off a 14-match winning streak.
Second-ranked Roger Federer, who lost to Simon in his first match here, was playing later against No. 26 Radek Stepanek, who was added to the field when Andy Roddick withdrew yesterday after spraining an ankle during practice.
Stepanek, of the Czech Republic, could qualify for the semi-finals but would have to win both of his matches and hope that only Murray finishes with two victories in his group.
Murray said he was nervous before the match, knowing that if he lost, he would have to beat Federer in his last round-robin match to qualify for the semi-finals.
Both Murray and Simon were making their debuts at the tournament for the world’s top players, but Murray looked like a veteran, running off the first four games. Simon won only four points in his first two service games.
The Frenchman did get one break back to pull within 4-3, but Murray fended off another break chance in his next and easily held to finish off the set.
Simon held to open the second set only to see Murray take the next five games. On match point, the 21-year-old Scot ripped a deep forehand approach shot that Simon couldn’t do anything with.
“When you play these kind of players, it’s never easy because he never misses a shot, so you have to play a good point to finish the game,” Simon said.
“I really have to win every point. I have to play a winning shot to win every game, and I didn’t manage to do it,” he said.
Simon was added to the field when Rafael Nadal withdrew last week with a knee injury that also forced the world’s top-ranked player to pull out of next week’s Davis Cup final between Spain and Argentina.
Roddick said he initially hoped treatment on his ankle would allow him to play, but he realized during his pre-match warmup that he couldn’t run or serve well enough.
“I came out here and tried to warm up 45 minutes or so ago, and it was pretty apparent that my movement was probably 30 percent or 40 percent,” he said.
“Unfortunately that’s just not good enough to get it done at a tournament like this,” Roddick said. “I didn’t feel like I could go out and try to compete and win a tennis match. It’s definitely a tough prospect trying to beat Roger with no serve and not being able to move much.”
“The risk/reward wasn’t there. You’re risking further injury where it might cut into preparation for next year,” the American said.
Roddick said his trainer and a doctor told him the injury didn’t appear to be serious, and he anticipated being able to do his planned training during the off-season.
“I don’t think we’re looking at anything more than a week or so,” he said. “I was planning on going home anyway. Basically I’m just starting that process four days earlier by not being able to finish here.”
In the Gold Group, Nikolay Davydenko of Russia will face Juan Martin Del Potro, with the winner assured of a semi-final spot.
Novak Djokovic, who is 2-0, after beating Davydenko on Tuesday, already has advanced and will meet France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who has been eliminated after losing his first two matches.
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