Tomas Berdych qualifies for Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for 2nd straight year – Tennis News
World No.7, Tomas Berdych, makes his way to O2 Arena in London for 2011 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. He confirmed his spot after defeating Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in straight sets 7-5, 6-4, in their third round match at the 2011 BNP Paribas Masters on Thursday.
This will be his second appearance this year in Barclays ATP Tour Finals tournament after a disappointing debut last year. Unluckily he was in the group of champions that starred World No.1, Novak Djokovic, World No.2, Rafael Nadal, and rocket serve master Andy Roddick. He was extremely happy to level the record of his compatriot, Petr Korda, of finishing amongst the top ten players of the world twice in successive years.
He will join the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, David Ferrer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Mardy Fish to contest for season-end finale that starts from November 20 and finishes in a week time.
This year was very successful for the Czech but without major silverware to his name. He reached advanced rounds of all tournaments clinching only a single title only a few weeks ago. Defeating Croat Marin Cilic in the title match of the 2011 China Open in Beijing, the Czech managed to end the season with at least one title to his name.
However, the Czech’s start to the season wasn’t on a high note as was expected off him. He started in Chennai as the top seed but faced an upset in the semi-finals against Stanislas Wawrinka. He lost again to the same competitor in Indian Wells in the rounds of 16.
Berdych reached the quarter-finals of Australian Open but unfortunately lost to the winner of that tournament Novak Djokovic. He incurred an injury at the start of the quarter-final match in Rotterdam, hence, had to give walkover to his opponent. He was below-par in Marseille but shot his way up to the semi-finals in Dubai where he faced World No.1, Novak Djokovic.
Two successive upsets in the quarter-finals of Madrid and Italy at the hands of Thomaz Bellucci and Richard Gasquet put an end to his promising campaign in both tournaments. Semi-final defeat in Nice, France and round of 128 exits in Rolland Garros were two major setbacks for the Czech.
Another upset in Halle semi-final and round of 16 exit in Wimbledon placed curtains for any title win for World No.7; but to his glory he managed to secure a lot of points from every tournament to keep his top ten spot safe.
He lost in the quarter-final and semi-final of ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Canada ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Cincinnati. Novak Djokovic has been the great hurdle for him on all major tours as he lost to him several times in final stages of the tournament.
Berdych has earned another chance to make a mark and clinch the most important title of the season. He will fight against other elite seven players of the world to prove his worth at the most prestigious tennis sporting grounds, the O2 Arena, London.
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