Andy Murray looks to move a step closer to another Cincinnati Masters final when he plays Gilles Simon on Friday.
Murray gained revenge for his shock defeat to Alex Bogomolov Jnr at the Miami Masters earlier this year, sealing a 6-2, 7-5 third round win over the American and there were signs his game is finally coming together.
"I was hitting the ball a little bit cleaner today," Murray mused. "I would still definitely like to do things better. I didn't move particularly well, and that's something that I'll need to improve on in this kind of 10, 11 days before the US Open. I want to try and make sure that's perfect before the start of the US Open."
It was not a win to be sniffed at, Bogomolov is playing some fine tennis at the moment and he put out Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in round two.
Simon battled past the rusty fifth seed David Ferrer in a three hour marathon – 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-4. The Frenchman is in extremely good physical condition but the effort took its toll in oppressively hot on-court conditions and he’s got another long baseline slugfest ahead of him against Murray.
His record against the Brit will not fill his fans with much confidence. Murray has won six of their seven matches and beat Simon twice on the clay this year – 6-3, 6-3 in Monte Carlo and 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 in Madrid.
Prediction: Murray in two.
