Tomas Berdych eases past Marcel Granollers to reach the third round – Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters 2013
World number six, Tomas Berdych, had an excellent beginning at the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters, outplaying the local veteran, Marcel Granollers, in the second round battle on Wednesday. The fourth seeded Czech took one hour and 43 minutes to register a straight-sets victory, 7-5, 6-4, marching into the pre-quarter-final rounds of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
It was a pretty one-sided affair, with Berdych dominating all the way to victory in a convincing manner. The Czech number one sustained his clean sheet against Granollers, defeating him for the third consecutive to lead 3-0 in the all-time head-to-head series. He defeated the Spaniard at 2011 Madrid Masters and 2010 Rome Masters events prior to his Wednesday’s win.
The contest took off with both players holding their opening serves respectively. Granollers got an early opportunity and pounced on it quickly to impose a 3-1 lead after a break point conversion in the third game. Berdych held his next two serves before registering his first serve break of the match in the eighth game and levelled the scores to 4-4. However, Granollers broke him once again in the very next game. The fourth seeded Czech didn’t let his opponent to remain at an advantage and immediately brought him down with a break of serve in the 10th game, levelling the score line at 5-5. It appeared as if the contest was heading for a tie-break but a timely break point conversion from Berdych in the 12th game sealed the first set at 7-5 in his favour.
Granollers broke the superior-ranked Czech in the opening game of the following set and pushed the scores to 4-2. He was going smoothly in the set until Berdych came up with a surprising serve break in the eighth game, bringing the scores back to 4-4. He held his serve and left Granollers serving to stay in the match at 4-5. The Spaniard couldn’t hold to the vital serve game and Berdych broke him once again, finishing off the match at 6-4.
Berdych will either face Albert Ramos from Spain or the unseeded Italian, Fabio Fognini, in the third round of the tournament.
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