Tomas Berdych defeats Jan Henrych; secures a quarterfinal spot – Gerry Weber Open 2011
Second seeded Czech Tomas Berdych kicked off late resistance from his qualifier compatriot, Jan Hernych to win in straight sets at Gerry Weber Open 2011, an ATP World Tour 250 series event held in Halle, Germany. Berdych registered
a 6-3, 7-6(7) victory over the world number 218 to advance into the last eight on Wednesday.
25-year-old Berdych made a comeback after trailing in second set’s tie-breaker to wipe out a fellow Czech, six years older than him, in straight sets. Hernych lost for the third straight time against Berdych and the last time they
faced each other was in this grass court event in 2009.
Ranked 7th in the South African Airways ATP World tour rankings, Berdych made a nervy entrance in the Gerry Weber Stadion and lost his serve in the very first game. However, the frustrated one roared back in the second
game and snatched his break back to level the scores at 1-1. He stayed on savage mode and reeled off next three games as well before Hernych could hold on. The higher ranked Czech kept his winning ways to eventually clinch the opener with 6-3 win.
Berdych stayed on track in the final set and plucked all his serves convincingly. However, he played below and failed to convert both breakpoint opportunity to his advantage. The set went to tie-breaker and the highest ranked player
of the tournament was trailing 3-5 in it before bouncing back to seal the set with a 7-6(7) win.
The 2007 titlist, Berdych displayed exceptional skills throughout the match. He smacked eleven aces and registered an impressive 74 percent win on his first serve share of 62 percent. The winning seed saved six out of seven breakpoints
faced and converted two out of ten breakpoint opportunities to his advantage in the match. To spice it further, he netted 93 points to his countryman’s 82.
Up next for the Czech is fifth seeded Serb Viktor Troicki who slaughtered Russian Igor Andreev with a breadstick to reach this spot.
"That is going to be a really tough game," said Berdych. "Maybe this time only the ranking position makes me the favourite, but the way he played in the last couple of weeks, that's really good. He’s been playing really well. He
can do a lot of damage. I have never played him on grass. We'll see. I'm really looking forward to that. I have one more day off to get some more rhythm on the grass and some energy back."
Troicki had reached his fifth quarterfinal this season after dumping the Russian in fifty-three minutes. World number 12, Troicki also made a final berth at Medibank International Sydney and has had an amazing form this season.
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