Simon stuns Berdych in Shanghai

SHANGHAI, CHINA - OCTOBER 10: Gilles Simon of France returns a shot during his match against Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic during the day 6 of the Shanghai Rolex Masters at the Qi Zhong Tennis Center on October 10, 2014 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Zhong Zhi/Getty Images)

SHANGHAI, CHINA - OCTOBER 10: Gilles Simon of France returns a shot during his match against Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic during the day 6 of the Shanghai Rolex Masters at the Qi Zhong Tennis Center on October 10, 2014 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Zhong Zhi/Getty Images)

Published Oct 10, 2014

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Shanghai - Unseeded Frenchman Gilles Simon moved into the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters on Friday after ousting sixth seed Tomas Berdych in three sets, leaving the Czech sweating about his place at the ATP World Tour finals.

Simon, ranked 29th in the world, earned a 7-6(4) 4-6 6-0 win after a two-and-a-half hour slugfest to set up a last four meeting with either Russian Mikhail Youzhny or Spain's Feliciano Lopez, who were next on court.

The Frenchman has made the final of a Masters series event just once, in 2008, but will be confident he can repeat that feat after taking down the tall Czech, who reached the final in Beijing last week.

The win was Simon's second big upset of the tournament following his second round victory over Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka.

Berdych is currently seventh in the ATP Race To London standings, with five singles spots left up for grabs at next month's season-ending event.

He will compete in next week's Stockholm Open to try to book a spot in the eight-man field for London.

World number one Novak Djokovic plays another London hopeful in Spain's David Ferrer later on Friday in the third Shanghai quarter-final, while Swiss Roger Federer takes on Julien Benneteau in the final match of the day.

THE RACE TO LONDON: 1 Novak Djokovic 8650-qualified 2 Roger Federer 7020-qualified 3 Rafa Nadal 6735-qualified 4 Stan Wawrinka 4795 5 Kei Nishikori 4255 6 Marin Cilic 3980 7 Tomas Berdych 3765 8 Milos Raonic 3740

9 Andy Murray 3565 10 David Ferrer 3535 11 Grigor Dimitrov 3405 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 2650 13 Ernests Gulbis 2445

* Points as of October 6. –Reuters

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