Tomas Berdych ousts Nicolas Almagro in the semi-final – If Stockholm Open 2012
World number six, Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych, booked his place in his fifth tour level final of the season by thrashing the third seed from Spain, Nicolas Almagro, in the semis of the If Stockholm Open in Sweden.
Fans were expecting a hard fought battle between these two of the top performers of this season but it turned out to be one sided, as the Czech star allowed Almagro to claim just five games throughout the contest, beating him in
straight sets 6-3, 6-2.
Berdych and Almagro won their serve in the first three games and took the score to 2-1 in favour of the former. The Czech contender hit a blow to Almagro in the fourth and consolidated on it to attain a 4-1 lead. Berdych sustained
his lead till the end, clinching it 6-3.
The Czech number one made a flying start in the second set, breaking Almagro in the first and third game to race to a 4-0 lead. Almagro held his serve in the fifth to open his account but he was unable to bounce back, losing it
2-6.
Berdych fired a total of nine aces and made only one double fault in the match. The Czech national did a good job on the first deliveries and second returns, sealing 27 of the 32 and 10 of the 16 points on them respectively.
The Monte Carlo, Monaco resident took just one hour and nine minutes to post this easy win over his Spanish rival.
During the post match press conference, Berdych said, "I was serving well from the start and when my serve is working, it makes the game easier. I got a lot of straight points off it and I could really focus on his serve. From
beginning to the end, the match was under my style."
The 27-year-old will take on the top seed, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in the title match.
Berdych added, "That was a close game decided by one or two points. But conditions here are different, it's indoor with different balls. He's a tough opponent and a great server. He plays aggressive like I do and you're probably
not going to see many long rallies tomorrow."
The Czech player defeated Tsonga in the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
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