Tomas Berdych plonks Nicolas Almagro in round three - Internazionali BNL d'Italia 2012
World number seven, Tomas Berdych, beats the 12th seed Spaniard, Nicolas Almagro, in straight sets 7-6(3), 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia on Thursday.
It was the fifth win for the Czech tennis ace against the Spaniard, who has defeated him thrice during professional career. Almagro won the fourth round clash in the BNP Paribas Open earlier this year so it was a sweet revenge
for the seventh seed Czech who looks to be in terrific run of form.
With four aces and three successful breakthroughs the 26-year-old Czech inched ahead in the clash at Rome. Despite smacking seven aces, the Spaniard failed to oust his rival; most probably due to the fact that he squandered four
breakpoints out of allotted five. At the end the difference of just eight points separated the winner from the loser.
Berdych started the match with a serve hold and both players exchanged breakthrough in the following two games that kept the scores together. Almagro eased to his first serve hold in the fourth game and levelled the set scores
to 2-2.
Both players capitalized on their serves in the remaining part of the set except on three different occurrences when Berdych was under the cosh and saved breakpoints to survive the scare. In the eleventh game, the total of 21 points
was played but in the end, the Czech player sneaked a serve hold and swirled the pressure back on his opponent.
In the tie-breaker round, the seventh seed Czech clinched an early mini-break that proved decisive at the end.
The second set witnessed a cautious battle at the start and both players held their respective serves to push the scores to 3-3. However, the deadlock was broken by Berdych who stole a breakthrough and consolidated it with a serve
hold.
Almagro was unable to handle the sudden pressure and failed to hold his serve in the following game that proved to be last action of the match.
Tomas Berdych will lock horns with the second seed player, Rafael Nadal, if the Spaniard manages to save an upset against his compatriot, Marcel Granollers, in the third round.
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