Britain’s Andy Murray powered into his second straight final at a Masters 1000 event yesterday with a 6-4, 6-1 defeat of Argentine Juan Monaco in Shanghai.
The world No. 4, who won the Toronto title in August, will play world No. 3 Roger Federer of Switzerland in the showdown. Federer defeated Serbia’s Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-4 in the second semi-final.
Murray advanced over the 41st-ranked Monaco in just under 90 minutes at the Qi Zhong Center as the South American put up a spirited battle, but then fell to the fourth seed.
Photo: EPA
Murray was made to work in the opening set by the dogged determination of Monaco, who once stood world No. 14, but Murray took his chances early for a 3-1 lead.
His first effort at serving for the set was thwarted by a double-fault that let Monaco back into contention at 4-5, but Murray was not giving up and he broke back a game later to lift the opener after 53 minutes as Monaco netted a forehand.
The Scot secured the second set quickly and in spectacular fashion after a pair of 28 and 31-shot rallies in closing games. Murray advanced with two more breaks of the 26-year-old South American, reaching the final on the first of three match-points.
Murray ended his afternoon with 15 winners and the same number of unforced errors, after taking full advantage of nearly 30 errors off his opponent’s racket.
JAPAN WOMEN’S OPEN
AP, OSAKA, Japan
Japan’s Kimiko Date Krumm remains on track to become the oldest player to win a WTA singles title after she beat Shahar Peer in the semi-final of the Japan Women’s Open yesterday.
Date Krumm, who turned 40 last month, broke third-seeded Israeli Peer to go up 6-5 in the third set, before serving out for a 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 win.
Date Krumm’s opponent in the final will be another veteran — 33-year-old Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand, who upset Marion Bartoli of France 6-2, 7-5.
The oldest player to win a WTA singles title was Billie Jean King in Birmingham in 1983 when she was 39 years, 7 months and 23 days old.
Date Krumm and Tanasugarn are tied 1-1 in head-to-heads. The Japanese has an 8-6 career record in finals, while Tanasugarn is 3-7.
In the doubles semi-finals, Taiwan’s Chang Kai-chen and Lilia Osterloh of the US defeated Italy’s Alberta Brianti and Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-3.
Chang and Osterloh will face Shuko Aoyama and Rika Fujiwara of Japan in today’s final.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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