Tomas Berdych moved to one match away from his first title this year after defeating Spain’s Tommy Robredo 6-1, 6-4, at a rain-plagued Shenzhen Open.
Earlier this year the world No.5 annihilated the Spaniard in Cincinnati by taking the match 6-1, 6-0. Their Chinese encounter seemed destined for a similar outcome as the Czech impressively won 74% (26/35) of the total points played during the first set. Robredo could only win 38% of his service points compared to Berdych’s 84%. As the top seed overwhelmed the world No.30, he cruised to take the first set after twenty-one minutes.
The opening set dominance by Berdych was wiped away during the first part of the second set as Robredo regained his service consistency. With both players holding their service, Robredo had his first break point chance whilst leading 3-2. During the long game, which consisted of four deuces, Robredo had two chances to break to move ahead 4-2 but failed to convert. The failure enabled Berdych to keep the set on serve at 3-3 before the rain started.
Throughout the week Robredo has been experiencing problems with his wrist, but the issue didn’t appear significant as the players finally returned to the court after an extensive rain delay. Berdych took the early initiative by breaking straight away to lead 4-3. Robredo tried to respond in the following game, but fell short, squandering two break point chances. The match continued on serve with Berdych firing an ace down the line to reach his fourth final this year.
Awaiting Berdych in the final will be another Spanish player, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. The 32-year-old upset second seed Marin Cilic, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3. As the match got underway, the 2014 US Open champion went off guns-blazing by breaking Garcia-Lopez two consecutive times to cruise to a 5-0 lead. The world No.29 finally got himself onto the scoreboard in the sixth game but it was too late the Cilic took the first set after twenty-four minutes.
Garcia-Lopez has beaten Cilic earlier this year in the second round of the Rome Masters. Despite the first set dominance by Cilic, the Spaniard was finally able to find his game on the court as he broke the Croat serve to lead 3-0 in the second set. The lead was squandered a couple games later as Cilic retrieved the early break to level the set at 4-4, thanks to the help of three break points. The set was one point away from going into a tie-breaker before Garcia-Lopez edged himself to a set point opportunity whilst the Croat was serving 5-6. As the clouds began to darken, he successfully converted to take the match into a deciding set. The momentum generated by the Spaniard was then halted as the rain fell.
Ranked 15 places below Cilic. Garcia-Lopez maintained the positive momentum when he returned to the court. In the fourth game of the final set he broke the Croat with his second break-point to move ahead 3-1 before consolidating the break in the following game. Cilic has no answer to the Spanish player as Garcia-Lopez served the match out to love.
Garcia-Lopez will now play in his third final this year. He has already won titles in Zagreb, Croatia and Bucharest, Romania.
Due to the weather, the final has been postponed until Monday. The two could face another day battling against the elements with the threat of thunderstorms on Monday. Going into Monday’s final, Berdych has played Garcia-Lopez six times before with the head-to-head being level at 3-3. Their latest meeting was in the third round of US Open earlier this year where Berdych won in four close sets.
