In a prelude to this month’s Davis Cup final, Andy Murray routed David Goffin 6-1, 6-0 to reach the quarter-finals at the Paris Masters. Top-ranked Novak Djokovic also advanced in straight sets, but Roger Federer lost to John Isner in three.
Isner won 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 for just his second career win over Federer and will play David Ferrer for a semi-final spot after the eighth seed outlasted Grigor Dimitrov 6-7, 6-1, 6-4 in another third-round tie.
Murray lost only eight points on his serve and broke the 16th-seeded Belgian five times.
“It was good for me to get the chance to play him before the Davis Cup and see his game and the speed of his shots and where he maybe makes some mistakes from and things that he likes to do,” Murray said. “Obviously with the result, that’s a positive.”
Murray and Goffin are expected to face each other again in the Davis Cup final between Britain and Belgium in Gent from November 27-29.
“It was difficult for me to do something today,” Goffin said. “I felt tired. My body was on the court, but there was nobody on the inside.”
Thursday’s match was played on an indoor hard court, but the host Belgians opted to play on clay in the Davis Cup.
“Obviously clay is seen as being my worst surface, but I still feel like I play well on that court,” Murray said. “I don’t know what speed the court’s going to be. You know, if it’s quick, then I think that will help my serve a lot. If it’s slow, then I feel like I can track a lot of balls down on the clay, which is positive. I can make it physical that way.”
The second-seeded Murray will next face Richard Gasquet of France, who advanced when Kei Nishikori of Japan retired while trailing 7-6, 4-1. Nishikori received a back massage at the changeover before stopping in the next game.
“After the first set, I started feeling my abs, side abs,” Nishikori said. “I could not hit serves.”
Djokovic booked his spot in the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 7-5 win over 14th-seeded Gilles Simon that extended the Serb’s unbeaten streak to 19 matches and 26 sets in a row.
At Zhuhai, China, Venus Williams rallied to beat Saisai Zheng of China 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 and advance to the semi-finals of the WTA Elite Trophy.
The tournament brought together 11 of the top players who did not qualify for last week’s WTA Finals at Singapore including Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Jankovic and Roberta Vinci. The qualifiers compete in a four group, round-robin format, with the winners of each group advancing to the semi-finals.
One player from the field can move into the Top 10 on Monday, and Williams is in a race for that spot with Carla Suarez Navarro, Karolina Pliskova and Vinci.
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