VIENNA: Andy Murray and David Ferrer tightened the duel for spots in the ATP year-end final with a pair of wins into the semi-finals of the Austrian Open yesterday.
Murray, seeded second and the heavy crowd favourite in his debut at Vienna’s Stadthalle, played it safe against German Jan-Lennard Struff in a 6-2, 7-5 win.
Spain’s top seed Ferrer limited the damage from the lethal serve of Ivo Karlovic as he defeated the sixth-seeded Croatian 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, holding Karlovic to 17 aces.
Ferrer won the first set in 44 minutes from two unforced Karlovic errors and secured a break in the seocnd set for what proved to be a winning margin. He has now won three of four matches in the series,
Ferrer stands provisional ninth in the race for one of three remaining places at the World Tour Finals, one spot ahead of Murray.
Murray will today face Viktor Troicki in the semi-final.
Ferrer will take on fourth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Murray’s only wobble against the 52nd-ranked Struff came as the Scot trailed 3-1 in the second set, but Murray quickly put that right and returned to 3-all.
The former Wimbledon champion ran out the winner after less than 90 minutes with a love game.
“I expected a tough match from him, even if I didn’t know a lot about his game,” said Murray, provisional tenth in the race to London which will be decided this weekend and over the remaining two weeks of the ATP season.
AFP
