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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 Canadian Milos Raonic, who beat world number two Roger Federer, for a place in tomorrow’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 upset Federer 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 to reach the Paris Masters semi-finals, keeping his bid to reach the World Tour Finals alive.
It was the first victory for the big serving right hander over Federer in seven meetings.
Raonic needs to win the tournament to guarantee his place in the season-ending finale in London while Federer suffered a blow in his bid to overtake Novak Djokovic in the race for the season-ending world number one spot.
Djokovic was scheduled to play Andy Murray later yesterday before fourth seed David Ferrer took on Japanese star Kei Nishikori in the concluding quarter-final.
The players now qualified are Djokovic, Federer, Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic, and Berdych with Ferrer and Nishikori holding the last two spots and trying to hold off Raonic.