Murray improves London chances with Valencia win

Reuters

24 October 2014 at 10:07 am

Andy Murray of Britain returns a shot during his men's singles tennis match against Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai October 7, 2014. REUTERS/Aly Song

MADRID (Reuters) - Andy Murray collected more points to aid his World Tour finals qualification bid when he fought back from a set down to beat Kevin Anderson 6-7(3) 6-4 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the Valencia Open on Friday.

A wild card at the Spanish indoor hard court event, which he won in 2009, Murray is eighth in the race to secure a berth at the season-ending tournament in London.

The Scot will play top-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer, who is also eyeing a place at the Tour finals, on Saturday for a place in Sunday's showpiece.

Ferrer, chasing a fourth Valencia trophy after triumphs in 2008, 2010 and 2012, swept past Brazilian qualifier Thomaz Bellucci 6-1 6-2.

Friday's remaining two quarter-finals feature unseeded Frenchman Jeremy Chardy against Spanish wildcard Pablo Carreno Busta and an all-Spanish clash between unseeded pair Tommy Robredo and Pablo Andujar.

Murray is attempting to qualify for the Tour finals for a seventh consecutive year and won the Vienna title last week when he came from a set down to beat Ferrer in the final.

(Reporting by Iain Rogers, editing by Toby Davis)