Tomas Berdych rallies past Steve Darcis into the last four – Winston-Salem Open 2012
Czech Republic’s second seeded contestant, Tomas Berdych, won his 40th match of the season, downing the world number 81, Steve Darcis of Belgium, in the quarter-finals of the Winston-Salem Open on Thursday.
Berdych lost the first set 4-6 but then bounced back in style to convincingly win the subsequent two, winning the contest 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 in an hour and 46 minutes.
In the first set, both players started by holding their serve in the first two games to equalise the proceedings at 1-1. Darcis hit a blow to the Czech star in the third and consolidated on it to attain a 3-1 lead. The Belgian
claimed his second breakthrough in the seventh game to move ahead 5-2 but then Berdych pulled one back and held his following game to reduce the trail to 4-5. Darcis did not miss his second opportunity, holding his serve in the 10th game to close
it 6-4.
The Belgian participant and his Czech rival did not lose their serve in the opening three games to take the score to 2-1 in the favour of the former. Berdych broke Darcis in the fourth one to gain a 3-1 advantage but the Belgian
struck back immediately to shorten the deficit to 2-3. However, Darcis failed to win even a single game later on, losing three in a row to go down 2-6.
Berdych was near flawless in the final set, as he did not allow the Belgian player to claim even a single game throughout, nailing three breaks of serve and capitalising on the triple advantage to capture it 6-0.
Ranked seventh in the world, Berdych pounded 10 aces but also committed three double faults in the match. The Czech contender had a low first serve percentage of 57 but converted 29 of the 36 of them into points. The 26-year-old
saved three of the six break points he faced and converted seven of the 10 he received.
Berdych said, while talking to the reporters at the end of contest, “He started playing really well, without many mistakes. I needed to change something. So I’m happy to finish the way I did. I stepped closer to the baseline; hit
the ball quicker after the bounce to force him back closer to the fence. That's the way I need to play."
The Czech star will take on the seventh seeded American player, Sam Querrey, in the semi-finals.
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