World No. 7 Tomas Berdych reached the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters semi-finals for the second time on Friday after rallying from a set down to defeat No. 4-ranked Andy Murray 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-3.
The Czech player also reached the last four at the Monte-Carlo Country Club in 2007 (l. to Nadal) and goes onto face World No. 1 Novak Djokovic for a place in the final. He has won two ATP World Tour clay-court titles in his career, most recently at the BMW Open in Munich in 2009.
Looking ahead to the clash with Djokovic, Berdych said, "I'm going to do everything the same like I do before every game. It's a day to play the No. 1 player in the world, which is always great. It's a semi-final, which is fantastic.
"But still, I want to play my best tennis and I want to do well. I just want to focus for myself and do the best on court," added Berdych. "The last time I played him [at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in November], I needed just one point to beat him and finish it. Didn't happen. So now could be another try."....
The 26-year-old Berdych was made to work hard to defeat Murray for the fourth time in six meetings. He squandered five set points in the 12th game of the first set before Murray hit back to clinch the opener in the ensuing tie-break.
Berdych regrouped quickly and broke serve twice to level the match. Three breaks of serve were then exchanged at the start of the third set to give Berdych a 2-1 lead, and he broke Murray again in the final game of the match to claim victory in two hours and 48 minutes.
Berdych is through to his third ATP World Tour semi-final of the season and has a 22-5 match record after winning his seventh title at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier.
"He played better," conceded Murray. "I mean, I hung in, in the first set. He had some chances on my serve. Then in the tie-break I got a few lucky bounces. He missed a couple of shots that he hadn't been missing. At the start of the second set it was where he obviously started playing better and my level dropped clearly, as the result, the score line, suggests."
The 24-year-old Murray was bidding to reach the semi-finals at this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 clay-court tournament for the third time in four years. He dropped to a 19-5 match record on the season. "At some points today in the match I did well; some points I didn't do so well," he explained. "It's going to take me a few weeks. Today is a good match to learn from because I was playing a top player who played very, very well."
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