Andy Murray will face Mario Ancic in the semi-final of the World Tennis Tournament after Marc Gicquel was forced to retire.
Ancic awaits after Gicquel concedes in Rotterdam
Andy Murray will face Mario Ancic for a place in the final of the World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam after Marc Gicquel retired in the third set of their quarter-final clash.
The British number one took the first set on a tie-break but Frenchman Gicquel, ranked 55 in the world, fought back well, only to succumb to a thigh injury with the score at 7-6 4-6 3-0.
Murray was decidedly out of sorts in his narrow victory over Andreas Seppi in Wednesday's second round clash but from the first rally against Gicquel his timing was much-improved.
Gicquel, 31, only earned his place in the main draw of the tournament as a lucky loser after Robin Soderling pulled out, but he certainly made the most of his opportunity with wins over Evgeny Korolev and Paul-Henri Mathieu to reach the last eight.
The Frenchman adopted an aggressive strategy and looked to come to the net at every opportunity, as he took Murray to deuce in the ninth game.
However, Murray held his nerve and after a largely uneventful first set it was the Scotsman, having had little success on the Gicquel serve thus far, who took the first mini-break when a volley from the Frenchman drifted just long.
Complained
The 21-year-old cemented the break to move into a 4-1 lead and that swiftly became 5-1 before Murray wrapped up the tie-break 7-2.
Any hopes Murray may have had of a comfortable second set were quickly put to bed when Gicquel forced a break point in Murray's opening service game.
The second seed responded with a second-serve ace and despite forcing two break points of his own in the following game, Gicquel held well and moved into a 2-1 lead.
Gicquel complained of a thigh problem after the seventh game and had it strapped up by the trainer.
It did not seem to affect him unduly, though, and more incisive attacking brought up a set point on the Murray serve at 4-5.
One of the longest rallies of the match ensued and it was the Scot who cracked first, mis-hitting a cross-court forehand well wide as Gicquel celebrated.
Having looked in control, Murray suddenly found himself in a deciding set but he took an immediate lead by finally breaking the Gicquel serve.
Murray happy
The Frenchman's movement was definitely being affected by his injury at this point and he let out a cry of pain stretching for a ball in the corner in the third game.
Murray took advantage to break again and Gicquel decided he could no longer carry on.
The British number one now goes on to face Ancic for the fifth time, with the big-serving Croatian, who beat Mikhail Youzhny earlier on Friday, having won three of their previous meetings.
Murray admitted after the match that it was not the way he wanted to win the match but was happy with his form and his serve.
"It's never nice to end a match in this way," he said. "I thought it was a good match with many chances. I am very satisfied about my serve."
Murray has now set his sights on lifting his third trophy of the year after victories in Abu Dhabi and Doha last month - especially because that would mean his name joining the past winners on the boards around the main court.
"I really like the tournament in Rotterdam," he added. "I hope that on Sunday my name will be printed on the boarding.
"I pretty much only see big names there and it would look great to me if my name was on that boarding too."
Nadal through
A showdown of the two top seeds in Sunday's final remains on the cards after Rafael Nadal saw off the challenge of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to reach the last four.
For the third successive match the Spaniard was taken to three sets, this time coming through 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 after two hours and 40 minutes on court.
The Australian Open champion did have chances to wrap up the win in the second set before Tsonga reeled off six successive points to take the tie-break.
The decider saw both men register early breaks before a double fault by the Frenchman offered his opponent a match point that he gratefully accepted.
"This was definitely my best match of the week," said Nadal, who will meet Gael Monfils next after Monfils beat Julien Benneteau 7-6 6-1 in an all-French clash.
"Tsonga just came from winning a tournament and was extremely tough. This was a very important win for me. I'm so glad to be in my first semi-final here."
