Tomas Berdych Survives Five-Set Anderson Battle; Tsonga To face Wawrinka

Written by: Staff on 1st June 2012

Tomas Berdych Survives Five-Set Anderson Battle; Tsonga To face Wawrinka

epa03244638 Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic returns to Kevin Anderson of South Africa during their third round match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 01 June 2012. EPA/IAN LANGSDON |

(Original Story: http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2012/05/22/Roland-Garros-Friday-Berdych-Survives-Anderson-Test.aspx)

Seventh-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych survived a three-hour and 52-minute battle against No. 31 seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa for a 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4 victory on Court 1 Friday at Roland Garros. It was Berdych’s 34th win of the year (34-9 record). Two years ago, he reached the semi-finals (l. to Soderling).

Anderson, who had never won a set against fellow 26-year-old Berdych in two meetings, broke twice in the second set and clinched the third set when Berdych mis-timed a jump smash in the tie-break. But Berdych fought back to improve to 17-4 on clay in 2012.

Berdych, who is now one victory shy of 350 wins in his career (349-200), converted four of six break point opportunities and hit 10 aces and 57 winners. Anderson struck 22 aces, but won 47 per cent of his second service points. He drops to an 18-12 season record.

Ninth seed Juan Martin del Potro won his third straight clay-court meeting of the year against Croatian No. 21 seed Marin Cilic 6-3, 7-6(7), 6-1. The second set lasted 82 minutes. It was the 225th win of del Potro’s career. The 23-year-old Argentine hit 31 winners and now leads Cilic 6-2 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. He will next play Berdych.

Elsewhere, fifth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga hit 40 winners and as many unforced errors in a 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 win over Italian Fabio Fognini in two hours and 28 minutes. It equalled his best result at Roland Garros, having reached the fourth round in 2009 (l. to del Potro) and 2010 (l. to Youzhny).

Tsonga goes onto face Swiss No. 2 Stanislas Wawrinka, the No. 18 seed, who edged past French No. 11 seed Gilles Simon 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-2 in four hours and 29 minutes. Wawrinka is now 18-11 in five-set matches.

In one second round match, suspended due to bad light on Thursday, Spain’s No. 20 seed Marcel Granollers required 78 minutes to clinch the fifth set 7-5 for victory over Malek Jaziri of Tunisia. The pair resumed at two sets all: 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-1, 3-6.

Topics: 10sballs.com, Czech tennis news, Italian Fabio Fognini, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Kevin Anderson South Africa, Stanislas Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych