Andy Murray moved into the Paris Masters quarter-finals with a hard-fought victory over Marin Cilic.The Briton battled through a tough night match, saving a set point in the opener before seeing off the Croat 7-6 (8-6) 3-6 6-3.”I just found a way to win, which is really important,” said Murray. “I haven’t always done that this year.”Murray’s prize is another late match on Friday, when he will face 12th seed and local favourite Gael Monfils.”I served well in the final set but he played all the good points. He had the chances. He served for the first set. He was up 4-0 in the tie-break,” Murray added after beating Cilic in two hours and 18 minutes.”When he served for the first set he made quite a few quite bad mistakes. It’s one of these courts, against him, if you let him dictate – which I did most of the time – he was making me do a lot of running.
“In that game I managed to get a little bit more depth, get the ball through the court a bit and he made a few mistakes. He hasn’t played that well the last few months but he’s obviously very tough.”Murray’s first moment of difficulty came when he dropped serve in game five and smacked a ball away in frustration, narrowly missing a ball boy and drawing a code violation from the umpire.Cilic then came back from 0-40 in the following game but played a poor game when serving for the set at 5-4, with his forehand displaying a vulnerability that would dog him throughout the match.Murray could not convert a set point at 6-5 thanks to a heavy Cilic second serve and it came down to a tie-break, and again it was Cilic who took the initiative with some bold, attacking tennis, only to let a 4-0 lead slip and see a second set point disappear at 6-5 when Murray fired down a huge serve.
The Scot duly converted his first set point when Cilic played another poor forehand and there looked to be no way back for the lower-ranked man.However, Cilic broke first again in the second set as Murray’s serve lost its radar and this time the 6ft 5in world number 15 served it out confidently.A tense battle appeared likely in the final set but in the event, it was a tame affair as Murray stepped up the intensity and got his serve working again, while Cilic’s game disintegrated.Murray broke to love for a 3-1 lead and was never threatened on his way to the finish line, wrapping up victory at past midnight local time in front of a now sparse crowd. It is sure to be a rowdier affair against Monfils on Friday night.”Every year here I seem to play so late and the crowd gets less an less by the set,” said Murray. “By end there was hardly anyone watching.
“It was quite tough to keep concentration but I managed to come through in the end.”Earlier, reigning champion Novak Djokovic lost 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 to Michael Llodra as the Frenchman secured what he described as “a magic win” in front of his hometown crowd.Victory for Andy Roddick sealed the last place at the ATP World Tour Finals – the American cemented his place in the eight-man event in London later this month with a 6-3 7-6 (8-6) win over Latvian Ernests Gulbis, before Gael Monfils defeated Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.Monfils’ 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-2) 7-5 victory also confirmed the places of Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych and Spain’s David Ferrer in the prestigious end-of-season event at the 02 Arena.But Berdych could not avoid defeat by Nikolay Davydenko, who won 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-0, while seventh seed Ferrer also bowed out, with Jurgen Melzer seeing off the Spaniard 7-6 (8-6) 2-6 6-3.Top seed Roger Federer was in fine form as he swept past Radek Stepanek 6-4 6-3 in the penultimate match of the day.”This is tough at the end of the season,” said Federer, who has never been past the quarter-finals at Bercy. “I tried to come all the same when I was injured or I didn’t play well. That’s why I never had a chance to make a good result here.”But this year so far it’s going well. If I lose tomorrow it will be a disappointment for me, but I’ll try to use the surface at my advantage and try my best – Bbc
