Tomas Berdych blasts past Fernando Verdasco into last four – China Open 2011
Rated at number 10 in the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Rankings, Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic powered his way through the 23rd ranked Spaniard, Fernando Verdasco, in the quarter-final of the
China Open on Friday afternoon.
Being played on the outdoor hard courts of the Olympic Green Tennis Center, in Beijing, China, the third seed Berdych exhibited his tremendous power hitting to absolutely annihilate Verdasco in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0. The Czech
took merely 66 minutes to dump the unseeded Spaniard from the competition and moved into the semi-final rounds of the ATP World Tour 500 event.
The contest was an all-Czech show, with the third seed dominating every second of it. The belligerent Czech broke his opponent in his every single serve game, dropping just one of the total 13 games being played en route to victory.
It was the second consecutive defeat for Verdasco at the hands of Berdych in the running year, as the Czech outclassed him in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3, in the round of 16 of the Australian Open. Berdych leads 7-4 against Verdasco in all-time head-to-head
combats and is well on course to win his first ATP championship title.
The third seeded Czech nailed six out of eight serve breaks in the matchup to dump his opponent out of the competition. He dropped his serve in the very first game of the match and it was the only game Berdych lost in the entire
contest. The Czech then launched an unstoppable series of forays upon his opponent, breaking him in all the games to follow. Six straight serve breaks left Verdasco stunned at 1-6, 0-6, with Berdych confirming a berth in the semi-finals of the China Open in
the most authoritative fashion.
Berdych will compete either against the top seed Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, or the former world number one, Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, in the round of four to earn a title shot in the final of the China Open. Tsonga and
Ferrero will go one-on-one later on Friday afternoon and the winner will take on Berdych in the semi-final.
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