Andy Murray to face Feliciano Lopez in Farmers Classic semifinals

It was a night of mixed emotions for fans at the Los Angeles Tennis Center, as the favorite to win it all advanced, while a fan favorite bowed out in the singles draw.

World No. 4 Andy Murray moved on to the semifinals of the Farmers Classic with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 win over Alejandro Falla on Friday evening.

It’s been far from easy for Murray in his first two matches of the tournament. Just one day removed from laboring through a three-set victory over American qualifier Tim Smyczek, the top overall seed was tested early by the feisty Falla.

Murray, playing his first matches since losing in the semifinals of Wimbledon to Rafael Nadal, hadn’t committed to the tournament until last Friday morning and explained after his win on Thursday that he was far from his ideal fitness level.

And it showed again Friday. On a crisp 60-degree night, Murray came out sporting a blue sleeve on his right knee and had to fight off two set points for Falla in the first set. He even went down a break 1-0 in the second before coming back to win.

All in all, the transition from grass-court to hard-court season hasn’t been the smoothest for the Scotsman.

“Coming in, I hadn’t been training that much since Wimbledon,” Murray said after the match. “It’s a change of surface, not playing a lot, and the cold doesn’t help either, but I think it’s a combination of three or four things, really.”

He added that he doesn’t think his soreness will be a problem tomorrow.

“I had the same sort of thing earlier in the year after the Australian Open when I didn’t play for a few weeks, and then I played in Dubai,” Murray said. “I was really sore in the first match, then each match after that started to feel a lot better, so hopefully that’ll be the case here.”

Murray moves on to face fourth-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in the second semifinal match Saturday. Lopez rallied from a set down to win 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 over American James Blake in the third match of the day at Straus Stadium.

After Blake cruised to a quick 6-3 win in the first set, the two traded breaks to open the second before holding serve to force the tiebreak, but Blake double faulted on Lopez’s set point to level the match.

The third set was much like the first, only in favor of Lopez. He needed only one break at 4-3 but held off a late rally from Blake in the final game. Lopez had three match points at 40-0 before Blake cut it to 40-30. The crowd came to their feet after Blake then sent a passing shot past Lopez that caught the far sideline, but Lopez challenged the call. The Hawk-Eye review showed the ball had missed the line, and the match came to an end.

“If I could have pulled that backhand in by another half an inch, I could have been right back in the match possibly,” Blake said. “It’s just the way things go, unfortunately.”

Lopez, the No. 27-ranked player in the world, had to come back from a poorly played first set to get the win. His backhand, which Blake exploited, repeatedly went straight into the net. But the second and third sets were a different story. His rocket first serve ““ registering at more than 130 miles per hour on multiple occasions ““ started to connect, and he found a way to get by Blake.

“I was a little bit nervous (at first),” Lopez said. “Once I got into the match, I was faster and I was doing better.

“I’m so happy to be in the semis. The first tournament (since Wimbledon) is always difficult.”

The match brought a curtain down on the 30-year-old Blake’s short but crowd-pleasing run in Los Angeles. The 117th-ranked player in the world ““ once ranked as high as No. 4 ““ fell short in the quarterfinals of an ATP event for the third time this year. But Blake delighted the fans with flashes of his younger self in his first two wins. His right knee, which has hampered him since his first-round exit at Wimbledon, is feeling better, and he said that he now has renewed vigor in his preparations for a run at the U.S. Open.

Blake was talking about retirement in London but did a complete 180 on Friday.

“No, not anymore,” he said when asked if this could be his last hurrah. “At that time, I was dealing with some knee pain that was very frustrating to me. … I feel so much better now. The last two weeks have been extremely exciting for me.”

Friday’s scores

Singles, quarterfinals

[1] Andy Murray (Great Britain) def. Alejandro Falla (Colombia) 7-6 (7-3), 6-1

[2] Sam Querrey (USA) def. Rainer Schuettler (Germany) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4)

[6] Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) def. [3] Marcos Baghdatis (Cypress) 6-3, 7-5

[4] Feliciano Lopez (Spain) def. James Blake (USA) 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4

Doubles, quarterfinals

Eric Butorac (USA) / Jean-Julien Rojer (Netherlands Antilles) def. [2] Robert Lindstedt (Sweden) / Horacio Tecau (Romania) 6-3, 4-6, (10-6)

[4] Rohan Bopanna (India) / Aisam Qureshi (Pakistan) def. Arnaud Clement (France) / Jonathan Erlich (Israel) 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), (14-12)

Saturday’s order of play

Afternoon session

[6] Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) v. [2] Sam Querrey (USA)

[1] Bob Bryan (USA) / Mike Bryan (USA) v. [4] Rohan Bopanna (India) /

Aisam Qureshi (Pakistan)

Evening session

[1] Andy Murray (Great Britain) v. [4] Feliciano Lopez (Spain)

Ross Hutchins (Great Britain) / Jordan Kerr (AUS) v. Eric Butorac (USA) / Jean-Julien Rojer (Netherlands Antilles)