Andy Murray exits Rotterdam Open after being beaten by Gilles Simon

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/feb/13/andy-murray-gilles-simon-exits-rotterdam-open

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It was a case of unlucky No13 for Andy Murray as he crashed out of the Rotterdam Open in a straight sets defeat by Gilles Simon.

Murray had won his last 12 matches against Simon but looked off-colour against the Frenchman on Friday as his opponent came through to win 6-4, 6-2. Simon will now face Tomas Berdych in the semi-finals.

The match started in the worst possible way for Murray when Simon broke his first service game, then moved into a 2-0 lead to pile early pressure on the Scot.

Murray held his next serve but Simon took his own service game and broke the top seed again to ease 4-1 ahead. The Frenchman then powered 5-1 in front on his own serve, leaving Murray with a mountain to climb in the first set.

The No1 seed did not falter with the ball in hand on his next serve to pull back to 5-2 then broke Simon to cut the gap to two games. Murray held again thanks to a Simon error to trail 5-4 and pushed his opponent all the way when he served for the set, but the Frenchman came through to take it 6-4.

Simon started the second set in exactly the same way as the first – with a break of the Murray serve – before following it up with a hold and another break to move 3-0 clear. Another hold meant Simon had total control of the set but Murray finally got a foothold at 4-1 after clinging on to his service game.

A double fault by Simon in the next handed Murray two break points and the beaten Australian Open finalist took the first opportunity to cut the gap to 4-2. However, Simon broke back after Murray floated a chip into the net, giving him the chance to serve for the match. The world No19 did just that, with an out-of-sorts Murray flashing a forehand wide to gift Simon two match points.

Murray pulled it back to deuce but Simon came through to take the second set 6-2 and wrap up a crushing defeat.

Earlier, Berdych had booked his place in the last four thanks to a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Gaël Monfils.