Top seed Andy Murray suffered a shock defeat against Gilles Simon in the quarter-final of the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam. The British number one and world number four lost 6-4 6-2 to the Frenchman, 15 places below him in the world rankings. Murray, playing in his first tournament since losing his fourth Australian Open final, was unusually profligate, committing numerous unforced errors from his usually rock-solid groundstrokes. The Scot slipped 5-1 behind in the first set before playing some of his best tennis to break back once, but eighth seed Simon held firm to take the opener in Rotterdam. Simon continued to outmanoeuvre Murray in the second set and forged 4-0 ahead before the Briton again offered some stiff resistance, threatening to get back to 4-3.There was no reprieve for Murray though and Simon completed victory on his third match point to set up a semi-final with defending champion Tomas Berdych who beat Gael Monfils. Since Simon’s previous win over Murray in 2007 on clay at the Rome Masters, the Frenchman had lost 12 matches against the former Wimbledon champion.
Murray, who went down double breaks at the start of each set, confessed to getting off to a poor start; the recent Australian Open finalist admitting he never found the rhythm to recover.
“I struggled with most shots and I had a poor start,” said the world number four who won the Dutch title in 2009.
“I felt like it was tough hitting the ball in the slower conditions.
“My timing was well off. Simon is a top, top player who has been around the top 20 for most of his career. None of the matches I’ve won against him have been easy. He fights to the end and likes to extend the rallies.
“That’s his game. I didn’t feel tired but I certainly did not start well. I was not hitting the ball well from the back of the court and I made a lot of mistakes in the rallies.”
The third-seeded Berdych needed just 23 minutes to seal the first set, and broke for 2-1 in the second soon after calling the trainer to have his left wrist checked following his tumble when chasing a drop shot. “It was a nasty fall,” Berdych said. “I’ll have to see how it evolves, but hopefully I will fully recover for the semifinals.”
Monfils attended to the hard-hitting Czech after he slipped, stepping across the net to help him back on his feet, and picking up his racket.
“The score may give the impression it was an easy victory, but it was a tough fight,” Berdych said. “I really had to go all out.” Berdych has been in impressive form since the start of the year under the helm of new coach Dani Vallverdu, reaching the final in Doha before making the Australian Open semifinals.
Simon will take a 6-3 record into his semi-final with defending champion Tomas Berdych.
Andy Murray vs Gilles Simon, 13/02/2015, 13:35 GMT, Match Center
Tomas Berdych vs Gael Monfils, 13/02/2015, 14:35 GMT, Match Center
Tennis Rotterdam: Murray beaten by Simon, Berdych defeats Monfils
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