Tennis-Berdych cuts Monfils down to size to reach final

MONTE CARLO, April 18 (Reuters) - Sixth seed Tomas Berdych reached the final of the Monte Carlo Masters by sweeping past local favourite Gael Monfils 6-1 6-4 on Saturday. Czech Berdych, who next faces eight-times champion Rafa Nadal or world number one Novak Djokovic, breezed through the opening set without facing a single break point. Monfils, who beat Roger Federer and Grigor Dimitrov en route to the semi-finals in the European claycourt season's opening tournament, offered more resistance in the second set but made too many unforced errors. Berdych now has a 6-1 record against 14th-seeded Frenchman Monfils who came back from an injury absence late last month. (Writing by Julien Pretot, editing by Tony Jimenez)