Tomas Berdych pulls out of Barcelona Open with illness – Tennis News
Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic withdrew from the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, as he complained of intestinal illness. He was seeded fourth in the 64 men draw at the ATP World Tour 500 event.
The Czech had received a bye in the opener and was drawn to play Kazakh, Andrey Golubev, or Steve Darcis of Belgium in the second round. He was expected to face King of Clay, Rafael Nadal of Spain, in the semi-finals.
Berdych did not perform well at the clay courts of Barcelona in his previous three appearances here, with a 4-3 win/loss record. The Czech gave his best performance when he played in Barcelona last time, as he reached the last
16, losing to the then world number seven, Fernando Verdasco. He failed to clear the second round on the first two occasions.
However, he was expected to give better result this time, as he is in a good form. The Czech reached the last four at Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters last week, after stunning third seed, Andy Murray of Great Britain, in three sets 6-4,
3-6, 2-6 in the quarter-final. He could not advance to the title match, as he was defeated by Novak Djokovic in the semi-final. However, he did not go down before giving a scare to the reigning world number one, losing in a three set thriller 6-7(4), 6-2,
6-3.
Berdych, whose aggressive style is best suitable for the hard courts, has improved his game on clay and become a threat for his opponents even on the slowest surface. The Czech was praised by the Serbian juggernaut himself, as
he said before the match, "Tomas is a threat for anybody on any surface. It's a big challenge for me to see if I'm able to keep the focus throughout the whole match because this is the only way I can actually get a win against Tomas."
Ranked seventh in the world, Berdych made a good start in this season. He reached the last eight at the Australian Open, losing to the world number two, Rafael Nadal, in four close sets 7-6(5), 6-7(6), 4-6, 3-6. The Czech then
headed to Montpellier in France, where he defeated local favourite, Gael Monfils, in three sets 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in the final to grab title.
Berdych also led his country to the semi-final of the Davis Cup, as he won both of his singles matches against Serbia in the quarter-final.
The Czech is expected to recover in time for the Mutua Madrid Open, which will start after a couple of weeks.
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