Intro:

Tomas Berdych took another step towards retaining his ABN AMRO World Tennis title in Rotterdam, Netherlands on Saturday (14th February) after the Czech number three seed beat Gilles Simon of France 6-2, 6-1 in the semi-finals.

Script:

The Rotterdam World Tennis Tournament reached the semi-final stage on Saturday and first on court was defending champion Tomas Berdych, who was up against Gilles Simon of France.

And it was the Czech - Berdych - who was in good form early on. The number 3 seed finding an early break to lead two-love.

Berdych then at break point on the Frenchman's serve closed out to take the set 6-2.

Simon had beaten Andy Murray in straight sets in the previous round, however the Frenchman was well short of his best here.

The Czech dominated the points from the back of the court and he was already at a break up in the second set, found another to put the victory in sight.

The Czech closed out the match to-love, winning 22 of 23 points on his serve. Winning the match in just 58 minutes.

Berdych will look to defend his Rotterdam title against either Milos Raonic or Stan Wawrinka in Saturday's second semi-final.