PETE ZIEBRON in CINCINNATI
Tomas Berdych tuning up for his semifinal match following a quarterfinal victory against Andy Murray.
Pete Ziebron Images
In the lone men's quarterfinal match on Grandstand court on the middle of a busy day at the Western & Southern Open, Tomas Berdych quickly and convincingly defeated 2-time Cincinnati Champion Andy Murray 6-3 6-4. With the win, Berdych will meet Rafael Nadal in the second semifinal at the Lindner Family Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon.
Berdych has stormed through his first three matches in Cincinnati, dropping only 15 games while winning all 6 sets he has played against Jarkko Nieminen, Tommy Robredo and Murray.
After digging out of a 0-30 hole in his first service game of the match, Berdych steadied his game in the first set and proceeded to win crucial points throughout the set, taking it 6-3 despite being outaced by Murray 8-1 in the set. Similarly, Berdych ran into trouble early in the second set as well. Down 0-1 and 0-40, Berdych was once again able to find a way out of the game and held serve successfully.
Berdych's good fortune in denying Murray to convert the early break allowed him to continue to grow in confidence and he cited his sharp focus when I asked him to elaborate on this particular service game:
"This was a very tough one for me. I was trying to be really focused just on every next point or actually the point that I was right now facing. Whatever it is, if it's 40‑Love, Love‑40, it's still the next point. So you just go one by one.
That's what I was doing really good today, just be really focused, and that was probably really my best part of today's match."
The failure to break Berdych after having 0-40 frustrated Murray as he started to mutter to himself and to his team during this game. His bickering would continue throughout the remainder of the second set. After the match, I asked Murray to talk about his inability to convert these particular break point opportunities as well as the general difficulty he was seemingly having with Berdych on the Grandstand court:
"The first couple of rounds, I was able to hit the ball quite flat and wasn't kind of flying on me; today it was happening a little bit. You just need to make adjustments."
Today when I had my opportunities, you know, I didn't take them. I had the Love‑40 game beginning of the second set; didn't get it. Love‑30 beginning of the match. Numerous times got to 30 on his serve, 15‑30, 30‑All points, and didn't quite get the breakthrough.
That was the problem today."Berdych would break Murray midway through the 2nd set and eventually served out the match to improve to an impressive 6-4 lifetime record against Murray.
Next up for Tomas Berdych is Rafael Nadal, who defeated 5-time Cincinnati champion Roger Federer in 3 grueling sets on Friday night. Berdych carries a 3- 14 career record against Nadal, including a current 13 match losing streak against Nadal. Berdych has only managed to win 2 sets in those 13 matches. At one time, Berdych held a 3-1 advantage over Nadal, however his last win against Nadal came in 2006.
Both Berdych and Nadal are seeking to reach their first final in Cincinnati.
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