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Nobody beats Simon 13 times in a row!

While Berdych got past Monfils as expected, with another top performance, Simon surprisingly swept Murray away to reach Rotterdam semifinals, proving once again he can be a very tricky opponent once he finds rhythm. Berdych knows that full well, seeing as he lost to Simon 6 times

After undergoing great changes which included an almost entirely new team, Berdych started the season with an extremely difficult task. As he would often say, results were not the priority even though there were quite a few points he was supposed to defend to stay where he was in the ATP table. That particularity important at AO where he defended semifinals and had Nadal to face on his road to it.

Berdych was on a 16-match losing run against the Spaniard that finally came to an end in Melbourne. Nadal might not have been top level, but a win over such a player boosted Berdych confidence and he went on to eventually face Murray and lose. It has turned out that the Scotsman was simply too good but Berdych said he was happy with the start of the season and that he has good rhythm as he arrived to Rotterdam. 

He won the title here last season and given the fierce competition in the Dutch city, seemed to be headed into an even tougher than than Melbourne. Following the easy win over Kamke, Berdych faced Seppi as early as the second round. Seppi played a final indoors recently and before that beat Federer. Despite dropping a set, Berdych displayed high level of his game and did very well ahead of the great QF clash with Monfils. 

Berdych had three wins over Monfils but he lost the last head-to-head to a player who always needs to be taken seriously. Granted, Monfils has been talking about all kinds of problems that were there as he took on Berdych. It was not Monfils at top level while Berdych played what was probably his top match this season. He took control very early on and kept on attacking to constantly put pressure on Monfils. That pressure resulted in a double break in the first set and one in the second one. More than enough for an easy win. The whole arena got silent after his nasty fall early in the second set but it seems like it didn't leave any consequences. 

- It was a nasty and painful fall. I will need to check it out but I think I will definitely be ready for the semis - the Czech said and then went on to comment the match:

- The result might suggest it was easy but it was not. I need to admit that I feel great here again and I'm just happy to be playing this tournament.

Berdych has more than enough reason to be happy, especially after he learned the outcome of the quarterfinal match between Seppi and Murray. Scotsman recently beat him in AO semifinal, while Berdych beat Simon 12 times in a row. Given Simon's form this season, not many expected that he would stand a chance against Murray, but Simon stunned the crowd and Murray to advance to semifinals.

It was one of those days for Murray - he couldn't do any thing right while Simon displayed the different tactics he's been taking about. He had almost no mistakes and displayed extreme mental strength by converting 5 out of his 6 break points, while saving 4/6 Murray had. he was dominant on the second serve (60% compared to 26%) which suggests he was much better in longer rallies.

- My backhand didn't work at first and then forehand either. My timing was bad, just like my tactics. Maybe I needed to be more patient to prevent some mistakes from happening. I knew that I was in a tough match, my winning steak in spite - Murray said. 

- I had nothing to lose and things just kind of fell into place. I was very close in some of our previous matches but I never managed to use my chances back then.

Simon has much better memories of his clashed with Berdych. he recorded 6 wins in 9 matches. It is very clear that, being very good against opponents' serves, Simon has an understanding of Berdych's game and should not be underestimated today, especially after the boost of confidence he got against Murray. 

Everyone is thrilled with Simon's performance and convincing win over Murray. But we need to point out that Murray did horribly. He was not aggressive at all, moved badly, and most of the time took shots to late. Simon played the match well, but that's all. It was not one of his best performances and he won because Murray did so badly. The match was definitely bad and nothing close to brilliance the reporters talked about afterwards. On the other hand, there Berdych whose attacking is top level at the moment. Monfils didn't play nearly as bad as Murray and Berdych still beat him easily. The Czech is simply better and given their previous matches, one could expect anther close duel since it seems Simon has Berdych figured out. But given their performances here, Berdych is just much better.