Murray, Berdych reach ABN AMRO QF's

ATP Photo

Murray, Berdych reach ABN AMRO QF's

by Jawad Bisharat

New #4 in the world Andy Murray just avoided a 3rd set against Vasek Pospisil on Thursday in Rotterdam, winning the last four games to take the 2nd set and the match   6-3, 7-5 at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.

Pospisil served for the second set at 5-4 and had one set point but couldn't deliver. Pospisil played a tough match but Murray's abilities, mental toughness and stamina came through after 1 hour and 44 minute match.

"Obviously, the second set was a lot of momentum swings," said Murray. "I went up a break, was feeling good, but then I lost my serve to love in the next game. In the game after that I got broken to 15. Obviously, when he was serving for it he was in a great position. But we had a 30-shot rally on set point. It was a very physical rally, I was making him do more of the running and I think it took quite a lot out of him.

"My level was good. I moved well and I felt like when I really needed to, I was able to improve my level and step my game up a bit. I found a little bit of extra intensity in the important moments and that was key."

Murray is bouncing back from a runner-up outing in his eighth Grand Slam final at the Australian Open.

Murray will face the eighth seed Gilles Simon, who defeated his countryman Jeremy Chardy, 6-4, 6-3, to reach his second straight ATP World Tour quarter-final. "Today I played well from the beginning till the end," said Simon. "That was a big improvement compared to my first-round match.”

Although Murray is 12-1 Head2Head over Simon that doesn't guarantee a victory. Simon who can massage a ball from anywhere on the court can defuse Murray's power and keep up with Murray in the defence catgory.

Simon is going into this match with a lot of confidence and knows he is close to breaking through against the Scot. “My coach Jan knows him well and has helped unblock me against him. I played much better against him in the past two matches even though I ended up losing them. He’s obviously a very strong player who always finds a lot of solutions.”

Third seed Tomas Berdych was able to get by Andreas Sepp in a see saw battle 6-0, 3-6, 6-3. Seppi playing in his first tournament since defeating #2 in the world Roger Federer at last months Australian Open seemed to only show up for the 2nd set. 

Berdych arrived to the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament as defending champion and will face Gael Monfils for a spot in the semi-finals. 

"I think it was a very solid game today," said Berdych. "The opponent was not easy at all. I had my game plan, which worked perfectly from the beginning. He just started to play much better and took his chance, the only one he had in the second set. But in the third set, I was able to finish it, get my chances and execute."