Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, Tomas Berdych versus Andy Roddick preview
The fourth day of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals highlights two contenders attempting to get on the board and two others looking to earn a semi final spot and run their records to 2-0 as the second wave of the round robin clashes in Group A begin.
First up is sixth seed Tomas Berdych against the World number eight Andy Roddick from the United States of America. Both of them lost their first round robin matches on Monday. The top ranked American enjoys a lead of 6-2 in their head-to-head series. He
has triumphed in their past four encounters in a row. This is their fourth clash of the season.
World number six Berdych is playing in the season finale on the very first occasion in his career. The Czech Republic native, who enters with a win loss mark of 44-25 on the season, lost his opening match to Novak Djokovic of Serbia in two sets. The final
match score was 6-3, 6-3. He was broken thrice and won only 39% of points on second serve.
Berdych is the only contender, who is making his debut this season and is the first player from Czech Republic to make his way into the elite eight man field and finish in the top ten since Jiri Novak.
The top player from Czech Republic posted his best result of the year by reaching two title battles in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami and Wimbledon where he was ousted by Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal respectively.
The right hander also advanced into the semi final in Brisbane, Roland Garros and quarter final in San Jose, Memphis, Indian Wells, Munich, Washington, Kuala Lumpur and ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Canada.
The owner of five ATP single titles has complied a match record of 8-13 since his grass court Grand Slam final appearance and his best results were three quarter final showings in Washington, Toronto and Kuala Lumpur.
At the year’s final Grand Slam, the United States Open in New York, Berdych was upset in the opening round at the hands of Michael Llodra.
The 28-year-old Roddick, on the other hand, opened his account in London on Monday where he was surpassed by the World number one Rafael Nadal in three sets. The final score line was 3-6, 7-6, (5) 6-4. Roddick blasted a total of eighteen aces and won more
points in comparison to the Spaniard.
The Texas resident has made it into the elite eight man field on the eighth occasion in a row. He has so far finished as a semi finalist here thrice, falling to Roger Federer back in 2003, Hewitt back in 2004 and David Ferrer back in 2007.
Currently ranked number eight in the South African Airways ATP list, the professional tennis ace from the United States of America, comes in with a win loss record of 48-16 on the year. The top American started off his 2010 campaign with a title win in Brisbane
International where he got the better of Radek Stepanek to capture his 28th career crown.
The right hander also picked up another trophy in Miami, beating Tomas Berdych in straight sets in the final. He reached the finals in San Jose, ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells, semi final in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Basel and quarter finals in Australian
Open, Memphis, Tokyo and Paris in 2010.
He played quite well in his opening match in London as well before Nadal bounced back to win it in the end. In contrast to American’s good form, Tomas suffered an absolute beat-down by Djokovic on Monday, which clearly suggests that the Czech has been in
terrible form since the US Open. He has not triumphed in more than a single clash since September, therefore this should be a routine win for Roddick.
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