Monte Carlo Masters - Andy Murray vs. Tomas Berdych (09:30 BST)

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by Crunch Sports Staff

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Andy Murray (credit: VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images)

Andy Murray takes on Tomas Berdych this morning in the quarter-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters (09:30 BST start).

Murray got off lightly in the third round as Julien Benneteau retired trailing 6-5 in the opening set after slipping and twisting an ankle while attempting a trademark slide on the clay.

He'll have to step up a gear today against an in-form Berdych who recovered from a scrappy start to beat Japan's Kei Nishikori 2-6 6-2 6-4.

Berdych knows all about beating Murray in the latter stages of big clay-court events having dumped him out of the French Open two years ago en route to the semi-finals. The Scot is perennially guilty of playing too passively against the big Czech and leaving the ball in the middle of the court, and Berdych leads 3-2 on the head-to-head, although Murray did beat him 6-3 7-5 in Dubai a couple of months ago.

"[It will be] tough," said Murray on Thursday.

"Sometimes the match is kind of on his racquet a little bit because he has so much power. But if you can keep the ball to a good length, get him moving, which isn't the easiest thing to do, but if you can do that, that's where he's not so comfortable. So that's what you need to try and do against him."

Prediction: Murray in three.

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