TENNIS WIMBLEDON – Tomas Berdych rallies from a set down to surge pass Bernard Tomic who gave a good account of himself in a very competitive match 4-6 7-6 7-6 6-1.
Tomas Berdych (6) and Bernard Tomic are of similar stature standing at 6’5” (1.96m) but they have totally different status on tour. Berdych, former Wimbledon finalist back in 2010, has cemented himself in the top-10 in recent years and working hard to contend for major titles again. Meanwhile, Tomic, a quarterfinalist here in 2011, is struggling to remain in the top-100 as he is often sidetracked by many off-court distractions. Nonetheless, against Berdych, Tomic gave a good account of himself keeping the match competitive through much it but in the end, Berdych showed his superior skills to take it 4-6 7-65 7-63 6-1 in two and a half hours.
Berdych looked somewhat tentative at the start. He was going for his shots but seemingly at three-quarter pace. Tomic on the other hand appeared to be very aggressive on both his serve and return games. He quickly earned himself a break point in the 5th game and converted for a 3-2 lead. The Australian held serve at love to consolidate the break for 4-2. Berdych was unable to overcome this lead. He would see three break points down 3-4 but was not able to convert any of them. He held serve for 4-5 and forced Tomic to serve it out. Tomic took the set 6-4 when another of Berdych’s forehand went long.
Both players held serve throughout the 2nd set although Tomic faced two break points in the 10th game which would have resulted in the set had Berdych converted. On those two set points, Berdych’s trademark forehand missed the mark and the set was forced to a decisive tiebreaker. The tiebreaker remained on serve as well until 5-5 when Berdych hit a sizzling forehand cross-court winner for the mini break and set point 6-5. Tomic was unable to save a third set point as he dumped his forehand into net. Berdych leveled the match 7-65. The 3rd set was a repeat of the second as neither player was able to break the other. In fact, there would be no break points at all in the set. In the tiebreaker, Berdych stepped up his game and unleashed both his big weapons; his forehand and killer serve. He raced out to 6-2 in the breaker and though Tomic saved one of those set points for 3-6, Berdych ended the matter with another ace.
In the 4th set, it was all Berdych. He broke Tomic in the 2nd game for a 2-0 lead. By then, Tomic looked “done and dusted” and would only win one more game in the match. Berdych broke him in the 6th game for a 5-1 lead and served it for a 4-6 7-6 7-6 6-1 victory. Berdych had a very good serving day, 25 aces, 1 double fault. He won 82% of his 1st serve points and 69% on his 2nd serve. However, his break point conversion rate was poor as he was only 2 of 9. Tomic too had a nice serving day as he won 74% on his 1st serve. The main problem for him was when he had to hit a 2nd serve as he only won 52% of those points. However, Berdych was clearly the more aggressive player especially in the latter stages of the match. Berdych had 68 winners to 18 errors, compared to Tomic who had 32 winners and 14 errors. Berdych will play Marin Cilic (26) in the 3rd round. Cilic beat Andreas Haider-Maurer 3-6 6-1 6-4 6-4.
Cordell
