Andy Murray fights his way past Juan Monaco to Shenzen final

Andy Murray is one step away from ending his 15-month title drought after he fought back from a set down to pip Juan Monaco in the semi-final of the Shenzen Open on Saturday.

Andy Murray fought back to defeat Juan Monaco in their semi-final match at the Shenzhen Open tennis tournament, in south China's Guangdong province. on September 27, 2014. AP Photo

Sep 27, 2014

Andy Murray is one step away from ending his 15-month title drought after he fought back from a set down to pip Juan Monaco in the semi-final of the Shenzen Tennis Open on Saturday.

Murray took an hour and 42 minutes to beat his Argentine opponent 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 and set up a title clash with Tommy Robredo in the Briton’s first final since winning the Wimbledon title in July 2013.

Spaniard Robredo beat Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 6-1, 6-4 in the other semi-final.

Murray, who needs a strong finish to his season to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals, dropped the first set and was 3-3 when he reeled off nine straight games to surge ahead.

“He started the match well,” said Murray, who had back surgery last year. “I was struggling a little bit with my timing. Obviously, the conditions were very hard today. But I feel good and I’m into my first final for a while.

“Hopefully it’ll be a good match. Robredo’s been playing some good tennis this year, so it’ll be tough. I’m enjoying myself here and winning always helps.”

The Briton, who will need to move three spots up from his current 11th place in the Race to London to qualify for the eight-man finale, dropped just four points on serve in the third set while converting all three break points.

“It’s been a tough year for me. The first few months coming back from surgery were hard, then I lost a bit of confidence. But I’ve felt better the past few months and hopefully I can have a strong end to the season,” Murray said.

Elsewhere, top-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan beat Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 to reach the final of the Malaysian Open.

Nishikori will face fourth-seeded Julien Benneteau of France in today’s final.

Benneteau, who beat second-seeded Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-4, 6-4, has a 0-9 record in ATP World Tour finals, and will be contesting the title match at the Malaysian Open for the third straight year.

World No 3 Petra Kvitova overcame Eugenie Bouchard in straight sets to win the inaugural US$2.4 million WTA Wuhan Open, her third title of the year.

The Wimbledon champion was at her ruthless best, defeating the Canadian 6-3, 6-4 – a result that confirmed her place in next month’s WTA Finals, the season-ending finale featuring the world’s top eight women players.

The final of the premier-ranking tournament was a rematch between the two players who contested the Wimbledon final, and Kvitova reproduced in Wuhan the determination she displayed in London, where she won 6-3, 6-0.