Despite winning the Hopman Cup as part of Team Spain, Fernando Verdasco has failed to find the form that pushed him into the hearts of many at the 2009 Australian Open. Verdasco has been bundled out of the Open by Kevin Anderson.
Anderson won the third round battle 4-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 with 160 points to Verdasco’s 149. Read more
Posted in Australian Open, Fernando Verdasco, Kevin Anderson, Tomas Berdych
Tomas Berdych’s 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 win over Jo Wilfried Tsonga at the Barclay’s World Tour Finals means that the semi final placings for Group A in the round robin will come down to mathematics.
Jo must now play Andy Murray who lost to Novak Djokovic in three set. Tomas must play Novak. Given the tight scorelines of the matches the outcome is not straightforward. Read more
Jerzy Janowicz, the Polish qualifier who beat Andy Murray, has done it again. This time the in form player, ranked 69th in the world, took out Serbian Janko Tipsarevic who recently qualified for the year end Tour Finals.
Tipsarevic was forced to retire with illness with his opponent leading 3-6, 6-1, 4-1. It is now up to Gilles Simon to try and stop him in the semi finals in Paris. Read more
Posted in Andy Murray, Gilles Simon, Illness, Janko Tipsarevic, Jerzy Janowicz, Paris, Tomas Berdych
The semi final match between David Ferrer and Novak Djokovic has been stopped at 5-2 in favour for the Spaniard, forcing the mens final to be scheduled for Monday after a day of horrid weather and conditions and tornado warnings.
A lucky miss-hit off Ferrer’s racket gifted him a break point. Repeatedly drawing Djokovic to the net with short balls a beautiful lob gave him a 1-0 lead. Read more
Posted in Andy Murray, David Ferrer, Novak Djokovic, Tomas Berdych
Andy Murray over came Tomas Berdych and windy conditions in New York to secure a finals spot with his 5-7, 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 win.
Play began in horrendous conditions with Berdych seemingly determined to hit through the wind while Murray used his mobility and more varied play to combat the wild gusts of air.
Murray was the first to draw blood for a 2-1. While there were some moments of good sportsmanship there were also ridiculous moments where Berdych’s ball toss would be carried so far away from him in the wind that it landed in the tram tracks. Read more
Posted in Andy Murray, David Ferrer, Match Report, Novak Djokovic, Tomas Berdych, US Open
Tomas Berdych has done it again, ending the run of Roger Federer in a Grand Slam, beating him 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Berdych also beat Federer in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2010 where he had his best career result as a runner up in the tournament.
Federer came unstuck due to combination of his own errors and the spectacular power and flat hitting of Tomas. Federer has seemed the favourite after securing extra rest when Mardy Fish withdrew with a health issue from their fourth round match – a walk over never seeming to impact Federer negatively before. Read more
Posted in Andy Murray, Mardy Fish, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Tomas Berdych, US Open, Wimbledon
Novak Djokovic has battled against his heartache and wayward concentration to beat Tomas Berdych 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in Monte Carlo to secure his place in yet another final.
Berdych came into the match playing some solid and powerful tennis while Djokovic came in struggling with his concentration after the death of his grandfather on Thursday. Read more
Posted in Match Report, Monte Carlo, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Tomas Berdych
The sliding, explosive gymnastic game of Gael Monfils is (as it often does) slowly destroying his body. Monfils say he’s now in doubt for the Davis Cup after struggling with swelling and pain in his knees which forced him to consider withdrawing from the Montpellier final on Sunday which he lost to Tomas Berdych.
“I was unsure Saturday evening because my knee had swollen. I waited until after warming up in the morning to decide. Read more
Posted in Gael Monfils, Injury, Montpellier, Tomas Berdych
In a strange, yet high quality, match that saw Rafael Nadal robbed of vital points by poor line calls repeatedly, Rafa has battled the huge serves and powerful, flat ground strokes of Tomas Berdych to book a place in the Australian Open semi finals. It took Nadal four hours and 16 minutes but he eventually walked away with the 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 win that finished right at midnight.
Both players had early break point opportunities but were unable to convert, Nadal fighting against the booming serve of Berdych and incredibly flat ground strokes.
The 12th game of the first set went for over 8 minutes with Berdych having triple set point. His incredible defensive skills saved the second break point as he somehow stayed alive in a point he should have lost multiple times. Despite a fourth point for Berdych, Rafa dug deep and forced a tiebreak. Read more
Posted in Australian Open, Match Report, Media, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Tomas Berdych
