London: Two-time former champion Andy Murray reached the semi-finals at Queen's Club after overcoming a solid challenge from Benjamin Becker of Germany to win 6-4, 7-6 (3) on Friday.
The top-seeded Briton served eight aces without committing a double-fault, and broke twice in each set. He also dropped serve three times in the match, but dominated the tiebreaker by winning the first six points.
Murray will play fourth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a repeat of the 2011 final. The Frenchman ended the run of 112th-ranked American Denis Kudla, winning 6-3, 6-2. Kudla was facing only the second top-10 opponent of his career. A break to lead 2-0 set Tsonga on his way to, and he broke twice in the second set to close out the match in just 53 minutes.
"It will be a big step up and also a really big test for me because he's been playing some great tennis the last couple of months," Murray said of Tsonga. "He's one of the best in the world on this surface. I have had some tough matches with him on grass before, so tomorrow will be the same."
The second semifinal will be between defending champion Marin Cilic and four-time winner Lleyton Hewitt. The fifth-seeded Cilic beat No. 2 Tomas Berdych 7-5, 7-6 (4), and Hewitt reached his first semi-final in 11 months by upsetting No. 3 Juan Martin del Potro 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. Hewitt took a 4-2 lead with a backhand winner after del Potro struck consecutive double-faults, and hit a backhand volley to break again for the set.
Del Potro sped to a 4-0 lead in winning the second set. In the decider, Hewitt broke del Potro at love to earn a 3-1 lead and broke again at 5-2 with a volley winner. Cilic was under pressure in both sets. He faced a break point at 4-4 but Berdych netted his return, and Cilic failed to convert two set points at 5-4 before Berdych made a forehand error on a third break point at 6-5. In the second set, Berdych held one break point at 2-2 and another at 4-4, but Cilic once again held off the threat before claiming victory in the tiebreaker.
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