Top seed Tomas Berdych has claimed his first title of the year after he defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 7-6 (7), in the final of the Shenzhen Open.
Due to adverse weather conditions, the final was delayed by 24 hours as both men endured rain-interrupted semi-final matches on Sunday. In the first set the 30-year-old set the pace with the help of six aces as well as winning 86% of his first service points. In contrast Garcia-Lopez experienced trouble serving with seven costly double faults. The key break occurred in the fourth game of the match when Berdych converted his second break-point chance to move ahead 4-1 as he swiftly closed out the first set.
Despite dropping the first set, the Spanish fourth seed responded impressively at the start of the second by breaking Berdych to lead 3-0. Berdych was trailing 1-3, 15-40 before triumphantly battling his way back by winning four straight points to break back. With both player’s matching each other throughout the remainder of the second set, proceedings was decided in a crucial tie-break.
Berdych was in danger of the match going into a third set after two consecutive breaks of his service gave Garcia-Lopez a set point. He successfully defended the set point by breaking back twice to generate his first match point. He was unsuccessful on his first attempt, but it didn’t matter as he took the match three points later, winning the tiebreaker 9-7.
During the one hour and fifty-one minute match, the Czech won 68% of his service points and 54% (80/148) of the total points played in the match. The title keeps Berdych at 5th in the world and moves him tantalisingly closer to qualifying for the ATP World Tour Finals in November.
