PARIS: Tomas Berdych guaranteed his place at the season-ending World Tour finals for the fifth straight year yesterday as he defeated South African Kevin Anderson to reach the semi-finals of the Paris Masters.
The Czech number one, who won the Bercy tournament on his debut in 2005, his only Masters win to date, came through a tight contest 6-7, (4/7), 6-4, 6-4 in just under three hours.
He will now play either world number two Roger Federer or Canadian Milos Raonic for a place in Sunday’s final.
It was the 12th victory for Berdych over Anderson in 12 meetings.
“We’ve had some very close matches and some five-setters but I think the statistics do not tell the real story,” he said.
“It’s always tough against Kevin and today we played nearly three hours but I think it was a great match.
“I’m so happy and feel lucky to have made it through so now it’s another semi-final and it’s been a great tournament for me so far,” added the Czech who had a 15 and 4 record in Slams this season, getting to the Australian Open semi-finals as well as the last eight at the French and US Opens.
“I hope I can keep it going and keep playing good tennis,” he added. Berdych, who also reached the semi-finals of the Miami Masters where he withdrew with a stomach bug before facing Rafael Nadal, is chasing an 11th ATP title and third this year after victories at Rotterdam and Stockholm.
Raonic, who is the only player who can break into the top eight in the Race to London, needs to defeat Federer and go on to win the tournament to guarantee his spot in the British capital.
Meanwhile, Andy Murray’s recent resurgence continued when the Briton qualified for the ATP World Tour Finals by reaching the Paris Masters quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-3 win against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov on Thursday.
After dropping outside the world top 10 following his US Open quarter-final exit, Murray began a late push for a spot in the London showpiece event, which features eight of the best players this season. The eighth seed showed he was up to the task by seeing off ninth-seeded Dimitrov, who is now eliminated from the race for the November 10-16 event at London’s O2. Murray will take on world number one Novak Djokovic for a semi-final spot after the Serbian beat Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-3 7-6(2) after 92 minutes in Thursday’s late match.
Agencies
