Sensational Murray into last four

Andy Murray continued his excellent run of form to breeze past Gilles Simon and book his place in the last four if his first ever Masters Cup.

Fresh from his fantastic victory over number one seed Roger Federer, many expected Simon to pose the Scot problems. But Murray got off to a simply breathtaking start, winning the first four games, and never looked back.

Murray clinched the 6-4 6-2 win which now means he will reach the semi-finals regardless of whether he beats Federer in his last match of the group stages. The intriguing encounter provides Murray with a huge incentive however, as he will look to knock out the top seed, who must defeat the Scot to pogress to the last four.

Safe in the knowledge that he is through, it will be fascinating to see how Murray goes about the match up, with Nadal withdrawing before the tournament, Murray has a real chance to claim the Masters Cup at the first time of asking.

This was a much improved overall performance from the British number one who despite defeating Andy Roddick, seemed to be suffering from fatigue in the tough three-set battle. Murray appeared to haver adapted to the conditions and the surroundings far better against the Frenchman, which stands him in good stead as he looks to end the year on a massive high.

Murray goes into tomorrow's match against the top seed full of confidence and despite already begin through i really feel that the Scot would be wise to really try and make it three wins out of three. Not only would he knock out one of his main rivals for the title, but it will continue the momentum he has impressively built up over the past few weeks. It would definitely give him even more of a confidence boost as he goes into the semi-finals.

As far as Federer is concerned, the match is a must win for the Swiss star if he is to guarantee his passage to the last four. Federer was in many respects quite fortunate that Roddick pulled out because Federer was presented with an arguably easier match up against Radek Stepanek. After his surprising opening loss to Simon, Federer did play a much better match in the 7-6 6-4 win over Stepanek but he needs to step it even more of he is to overcome the in-form Scot and i am going to stick my neck out on the line and say that i fancy Federer to do so.

Simply, because there is more at stake for Federer as he needs to win to progress. Simon will be looking to put the pressure onto the world number two by defeating Stepanek, to ensure that if Murray wins then the Frenchman will be the one to advance.

Elsewhere, in the Gold Group, Novak Djokovic and Nikolay Davydenko have advanced to the semi-final stage after they both won two out of their three matches. Djokoivic's passage was ensured after his first two matches after he defeated Juan Martin Del Potro and Davydenko before losing a tight three set battle against Jo-Wilfred Tsonga. Whilst Davydenko went against my prediction and went through after he took care of Del Potro 6-3 6-2 in their decisive encounter after the Russian had already beaten Tsonga in his opening match.

I must confess that whilst i expected Djokovic to advance, i am surprised that Davydenko overcame both Tsonga and Del Potro. It will therefore be extremely interesting to see how the Russian fares in the semi-finals. The last four match ups will be completed after tomorrows exciting matches.

(Picture provided by Koramchad)