LONDON TENNIS UPDATE – TOMAS BERDYCH FINISHES OFF VESELY IN FIVE SETS, TO FACE POUILLE IN WIMBLEDON QUARTERFINALS BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 5th July 2016

LONDON TENNIS UPDATE - TOMAS BERDYCH FINISHES OFF VESELY IN FIVE SETS, TO FACE POUILLE IN WIMBLEDON QUARTERFINALS BY RICKY DIMON

epa05405809 Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic returns to Alexander Zverev of Germany during their third round match at the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 03 July 2016 EPA/ANDY RAIN EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO COMMERCIAL SALES |

Tomas Berdych earned the final place in the men’s singles quarterfinal lineup by winning a darkness-delayed five-setter against fellow Czech Jiri Vesely on Tuesday afternoon. Berdych recovered from a tough fourth set to roll through the decider and seal a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(8), 6-7(10), 6-3 victory that required a total of three hours and 55 minutes across two days.

The world No. 9 had an incredible number of chances to finish this one off in four sets on Monday. He served for the match at 5-3 in the fourth and went up 0-40, triple match point on Vesely’s serve at 5-6 but could not convert.

A wild tiebreaker saw Vesely surge to a 6-1 advantage, with quintuple set point in his pocket. But the underdog squandered the entirety of his lead and eventually faced more match points at 6-7 and 8-9. Berdych appeared to have clinched victory when a Vesely shot was called long and it was so dark outside that Hawkeye no longer functioned, but chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani overruled it (correctly, as replay showed) and the point had to be replayed. When it was all said and done, at least for the day, Vesely saved both match points in the ‘breaker and forced a fifth when his opponent netted a backhand at 10-9.

Darkess finally halted the proceedings and Berdych quickly regained control when the two countrymen came back out on Tuesday. The 2010 Wimbledon runner-up gave back an early break, but a double-fault by Vesely on break point at 3-3 proved to be the underdog’s undoing. Berdych broke again at 5-3 to finish things off in style.

Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic returns to compatriot Tomas Berdych in their fourth round match during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 04 July 2016. EPA/ANDY RAIN

“It was a very close match, definitely,” Vesely reflected. “Yesterday I played a very good first set, then second set I lost my serve once. The whole match yesterday was very, very close; could finish either for him or for me. As I said, it was very, very close.

“But today I didn’t start well. I lost my serve (in the first game). I was a little bit nervous from the beginning on. But then still I had my chances to get the lead (for) 4‑3, which I didn’t use. [After that] he was the better one.”

“The important was that I was able to erase [what happened in the fourth set] from my mind very quickly, get a good night’s sleep, and come back strong again to finish the last set,” Berdych noted. “That’s what I did. I think that’s all the experience that I already have. That’s what really gets me through this. It was really not the situation that I would like to have, but that sometimes happens.”

Next up for the 10th seed is surprising quarterfinalist Lucas Pouille.

Pouille is in the midst of by far his best season on tour. In fact he has already more than doubled his previous ATP-level win total in 2016 alone, with 19 of his 34 career match victories. The 22-year-old Frenchman punched his ticket to the last eight this fortnight with wins over Marius Copil, Donald Young, Juan Martin Del Potro, and Bernard Tomic (the latter via a 10-8 in the fifth set decision).

“Before the tournament, (my goal) was to win one match on grass,” Pouille explained. “Yeah, now of course I’m very happy, very emotional with the win (against Tomic). I (will) try to recover as good as possible for Wednesday. It will be my first day off [on Tuesday], so it will be good. But, yeah, now (I’m) trying to reach the semifinals.”