Archive: tomas-berdych
Roger Federer moved ahead of John McEnroe in the all-time list of tournament winners with the 78th singles title of his career, by winning the Dubai Duty Free Championships for the sixth time in his career, and he believes his decision to opt for a bigger racket was crucial.
Just as in the semifinal against Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer started stronger than the scoreline. He and Tomas Berdych were almost even in the first set, but Berdych won it, and went up by a break in the second -- and then Federer started amping up the pressure.
In the first set of this, Roger Federer kept threatening Novak Djokovic and not quite getting the break. Things didn't look good. But he really does seem to be rediscovering his confidence. Or something...
This time, Tomas Berdych had his first serve working; he put sixty-odd percent of his first deliveries in the court. As a result, he was never broken. He's still only #7 in safe points, but he's in the soft half of the draw.
Sunday will see the draft for the International Tennis Premier League in Dubai and opinions are clearly split on the validity of the new tennis concept amongst leading players. Tomas Berdych, who maintains he needs to cut back on his schedule, primarily in Davis Cup, insists he is fully committed.
Roger Federer went down an early break in the second set of this, finally got it back, but lost the tiebreak, and it meant that he had to spend more than two hours on the court. It doesn't seem a very good recipe for success.
This was not exactly a thrilling final (other than the odd moment when Marin Cilic managed to get a point replayed because the ball had been damaged). Tomas Berdych was never broken -- indeed, never faced a break point after his first service game -- and he converted three of four break points against Cilic. He won almost 60% of the points.
After all the upsets we'd had to this point, this seems almost unnatural. A seed winning? What is the world coming to? What Tomas Berdych is coming to, or at least coming close to, is the #6 ranking. Win the title and it's his; indeed, he will be just bare points behind Juan Martin del Potro in the contest for #5. Ernests Gulbis will be #23 or #24.
We're still on Rotterdam time, FYI. Richard Krajicek is a great tournament director ! FYI Happy Valentines Day. It was here in a blink and gone. Hope all the lovers out there had a great day. Geezer and Lovey were @ the wedding of the 1996 Wimbledon Champion and his dear always gorgeous Daphne Deckers...
Andy Murray had very complimentary words for his opponent here -- "I'm sure we will be seeing a lot more of him" -- but this looks depressingly like the way Murray played at the start of the year, before he really got on his feet. He won't make it back to the Top Five at that rate -- but at least he'll get the chance to do better.
Third seed Tommy Robredo led a trio of Spaniard to opening win, with the veteran starting with a defeat of compatriot Pablo Carreno 6-4, 6-4. Pablo Andujar followed suit over Argentine 2013 quarter-finalist Federico Delbonis 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 while fifth seed Marcel Granollers won his first clay match of the season, beating Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.
The difference here was probably the second serves. Jerzy Janowicz won only 56% of his second serve points; Richard Gasquet won 70%. And so Gasquet is back in the final. He will stay at #9; Janowicz will stay at #21. It's almost as if this match didn't happen....
Andy Murray has taken a late wild card entry into the Rotterdam Open next week, with the Scot joining Juan Del Potro in the field after the injury withdrawal of Australian Open winner Stanislas Wawrinka.
Tomas Berdych has been integral to the Czech Republic’s success in Davis Cup, playing both singles and doubles in the two title winning campaigns of 2012 and 2013. But now it seems he is about to join the list of leading players whose commitment to the 114 year team event is conditional.
The organizers of the BNP Paribas Showdown and the Hong Kong Tennis Association have put their dispute behind them when the association received the money they had requested.
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