Tomas Berdych continued his quest for his first title of the year with a straight sets win against sixth seed Jiri Vesely in the quarter-final of the Shenzhen Open.
The world No.5 fended off four break points during the 6-3, 6-2, win. The top seed began the match strongly as he broke the world No.40 in his second service game to move ahead 3-1. Vesely had an opportunity to retrieve his break three games later but failed to convert as Berdych closed out the first set after 48 minutes.
The momentum from the first set continued in the second as Berdych continuously attacked the fragile Vesely serve. After failing to convert a duo of break points in the first game, the top seed was more successful in the third as he broke yet again to lead by a set and 3-1. Another blow was dealt to the former junior No.1 when the top seed broke for the third time for a chance to serve for the match. Serving for the win, Berdych encountered the hardest game of the match as Vesely unexpectedly surged to 0-40, giving the younger Czech player three break back chances. It wasn’t to be as Berdych clawed his way back to deuce before taking the match with the help of an unforced error from Vesely.
During the match Berdych produced 3 aces, 2 double faults and won 69% of his service points.
In the last four Berdych will play third seed Tommy Robredo. The 33-year-old had to recover from a first set hammering to take the match ,1-6, 6-2,6-4, after almost two hours.
Facing Italy’s Simone Bolelli, Robredo dropped two out of his three opening service games of the match as he lost the first set after only 33 minutes. The Spaniard almost went down a break at the start of the second set as he trailed 15-40. Bolelli was unable to take advantage as the third seed won four consecutive points to take the game. The mini comeback from Robredo was significant as he went on to break the Italian twice to force a final set.
The final set was a close encounter with proceedings going according to serve until the final game. Throughout the majority of the deciding set Robredo was applying pressure to the Italians serve but he remained resistant. With Bolelli serving at 4-5, Robredo had his first match point at 40-30 but was unable to take it. Despite squandering his first chance, he edged his way to another opportunity after the second deuce. This time he successfully converted it to reach his first ATP semi-final since July.
The upcoming semi-final in China will be the 12th meeting between Berdych and Robredo. The Czech currently leads the head-to-head 7-4. Their most recent was in Cincinnati where Berdych took the match 6-0,6-1.
