Shanghai: Unseeded Frenchman Gilles Simon moved into the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters on Friday after ousting sixth seed Tomas Berdych in three sets, leaving the Czech sweating about his place at the ATP World Tour finals.
Simon, ranked 29th in the world, earned a 7-6(4) 4-6 6-0 win after a two-and-a-half hour slugfest to set up a last four meeting with either Russian Mikhail Youzhny or Spain's Feliciano Lopez, who were next on court.
The Frenchman has made the final of a Masters series event just once, in 2008, but will be confident he can repeat that feat after taking down the tall Czech, who reached the final in Beijing last week.
The win was Simon's second big upset of the tournament following his second round victory over Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka.
Berdych is currently seventh in the ATP Race To London standings, with five singles spots left up for grabs at next month's season-ending event.
He will compete in next week's Stockholm Open to try to book a spot in the eight-man field for London.
World number one Novak Djokovic plays another London hopeful in Spain's David Ferrer later on Friday in the third Shanghai quarter-final, while Swiss Roger Federer takes on Julien Benneteau in the final match of the day.
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