To start off with the biggest men's tennis tournament in China, the Shanghai Masters. Andy Murray has been simply sensational in the second half of the season. The Rio Olympics gold medalist captured his fifth title of the year last week at the China Open, he hasn't dropped a set in his last eight matches going back to mid-Spetember, and the second seed is yet to be broken in Shanghai. And the next man to try to stop the Scottish juggernaut was Belgium's David Goffin as the two contested a spot in the semi-finals.
Andy Murray of Britain returns the ball during the men's singles quarterfinal match against David Goffin of Belgium at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai, east China, Oct. 14, 2016. Andy Murray won 2-0. (Xinhua/Fan Jun)
That's Murray in the black shirt, and to say he is the favourite against the world number 12 Goffin is an understatement, but the crafty Belgian is very dangerous as he showed in coming back to beat Rio Olympics silver medalist Juan Martin Del Potro in a tough first round match. He gives Murray all he can handle in this first set, as the Scot comes steps around to nail a forehand winner, en route to breaking and winning the frame 6-2.
Despite the score, the first set was a tough battle filled with long, hard fought points, and if Murray hoped things would get easier in the seocnd, he would be disappointed. Goffin is all over him here, but can't put away the smash, and Murray wires a ridiculous passing shot to the corner and the fans in Shanghai are getting thier money's worth.
But all good things must come to an end and Murray now has match point. Goffin sticks it into the net and Murray takes the frame 6-2 again. He'll face Gilles Simon in the semis after the Frenchman beat Jack Sock.
15th seeded Spaniard beats Frenchman to reach last four
That would be Roberto Bautista Agut serving, as the 15th seeded Spaniard takes on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in another quarter-final. Bautista Agut is up 3-0 here in the first set and with shots like that running forehand passing shot it's easy to see why.
Bautista Agut claimed the frame 6-3 and now has match point. An incredible return seals it and the Spaniard simply ecstatic over his performance and rightly so as the straight sets win puts him into the semi-finals.
Top seed overcomes 37 unforced errors including six double-faults
That's world number one, Novak Djokovic serving to German qualifier Mischa Zverev. Djoker was terrible in the first set, racking up 18 unforced errors as the 110th ranked Zverev took the frame 6-3. But like that winner, the top seed took it easy and kept a smile on his face the whole time, and just manages to win the second in a tiebreaker.
Novak would tally an unseemly 37 unforced errors in this match inlcuding six double faults, but he still finds a way to get it done as Zverev goes wide on match point and the Djokovic wins the frame 6-3 to complete the comeback, after the Serb was actually humming a song in the late stages of the encounter. He'll be up against Bautista Agut in the semis.
