Berdych sticks to the plan to rout Simon

Tomas Berdych returns the ball to French player Gilles Simon during their semi-final at the ABN AMRO Tournament in Rotterdam yesterday. (AFP)

AFP/RotterdamHolder Tomas Berdych followed his game plan to the letter and reached his second consecutive final at the ATP Rotterdam World Tennis event yesterday with a crushing 6-2, 6-1 defeat of Gilles Simon. The rout, which took the Czech third seed into Sunday’s final, lasted just 56 minutes. Berdych now meets the winner of the other semi-final between Switerland’s Stan Wawrinka and Canadian second seed Milos Raonic. The Czech, now coached by Andy Murray cast-off Dani Vallverdu, said that he and his Venezuelan coach have been concentrating on strategy. “We are focusing a lot more on game plans than I have done in other years,” said Berdych, who has never defended an ATP title. “We’ve only had a few weeks together, but we have been able to implement a lot into my game.”  Berdych stayed in total control as he swept to his ninth straight Rotterdam victory, losing only one point on first serve. He kept Simon on the back foot throughout the brief contest, with the eighth seed barely recognisable as the man who upset top seed Murray 24 hours earlier. “It’s good not to find anything wrong with your game,” said a satisfied Berdych. “It was a really good match, solid from the beginning. “and it all started with the right game plan. I felt very good on court, it was all positive for me. I was able to add something to to my game. I want to keep doing that for one more match here,” said Berdych, who ended with 14 winners and breaks on four of five chances. Berdych, who trailed Simon 3-6 coming into the match, said: “I did many things differently today compared to our last matches, this result is clear proof. “I’m happy with how I handled it, with just the right amount of patience and choosing the right shots in the right moment. “I created the moments for myself and got the situation to my liking.” Berdych won the opening set in 32 minutes with two breaks of Simon’s serve and then picked up the pace as he hurtled to victory, advancing to the final on the first of three match points.Top seed Nishikori reaches Memphis semi-finalsTop seed Kei Nishikori kept his bid for a third straight ATP Memphis title alive on Friday with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 quarter-final win over Austin Krajicek. The 25-year-old Japanese star, ranked fifth in the world, needed two hours and 10 minutes to subdue the American qualifier, ranked 156th. Nishikori seized control in the third set with an early break for a 2-0 lead. Krajicek broke to level the set at 4-4, but Nishikori immediately broke back to avert the danger and served out the match. “Obviously I didn’t play my best tennis, but I won today, that’s meaningful,” said Nishikori, last year’s US Open runner-up and a quarter-finalist at this year’s Australian open.  “I think it’s a very good win today because he was playing good tennis... He was hitting a lot of aces that I wasn’t really expecting.” Nishikori, who saved eight of the 10 break points he faced, next faces American Sam Querrey, who toppled third-seeded compatriot John Isner 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/2).