By Chris Oddo | Friday November 4, 2016
Andy Murray survived a wild first-set tiebreaker than motored to a straight-sets win over Tomas Berdych to move within one match of claiming the No.1 ranking for the first time on Friday in Paris.
More: Cilic Stuns Djokovic in Paris
Murray’s 7-6(9), 7-5 victory is the Scotsman’s sixth straight victory over Berdych and his 18th consecutive victory overall. It places the 29-year-old one win from finishing the week as the 26th man in history to claim the ATP’s World No.1 ranking.
The match was by no means a walk in the park. Berdych matched strokes with Murray in a first set that featured no break opportunities then took control early in the ensuing tiebreaker, reeling off six of seven points to earn himself five set points. But nerves got the best of the Czech and he sprayed error after error, squandering all five set points before the pair engaged in a tug-of-war that saw Murray finally come away with the set, winning the final two points after Berdych’s forehand on his seventh set point clipped the tape and sailed long for 9-all.
Murray quickly seized momentum and broke to lead in the second set but Berdych answered back with a break of his own as Murray tried to serve out the match at 5-4.
Unbothered, Murray won the final two games, converting his fourth match point to end Berdych’s hopes of making a late run at qualifying for the World Tour Finals in London.
Murray has now won a career-best 72 matches against nine losses in 2016. A trip to the final would earn him the top ranking because Novak Djokovic was stunned earlier on Friday. The Serb lost for the first time in 15 career matches against Marin Cilic, 6-4, 7-6(2).
Murray awaits the winner of Friday’s final quarterfinal between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Milos Raonic in the semifinals. If Murray can win that match he will become the second-oldest player to make his No.1 debut in ATP history. John Newcombe, who debuted at 30 in 1974, is the oldest player to make his debut at No.1.