Tomas Berdych shocks Roger Federer in the quarterfinal – Western & Southern Open 2011
Another shocking result in the quarter-final draws of Western and Southern Financial Group Masters, with the world number three, Roger Federer of Switzerland, crashing out at the hands of the ninth ranked Czech competitor, Tomas
Berdych, on Friday afternoon.
The crowd at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, near Cincinnati, United States, was stunned to see the Swiss maestro collapse yet another time in straight sets, 2-6, 6-7(3). Berdych outclassed the third seed Federer in
one hour and thirty two minutes of play to surge into the semi-finals of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series event.
The contest was a magnificent display of high quality tennis from Berdych, who finally avenged his defeat from Federer. The Czech was defeated the last time he met the world number three in the quarter-final of Montreal Masters
last year, 3-6, 7-5, 6-7(5), but the eighth seed turned the tables on the Swiss maestro this time round to improve his record by 4-9 against him.
Berdych outplayed the third seed competitor with his phenomenal serve in the game, firing 10 aces and bagging 31 out of his 36 first serve points en route to victory. He gave not even a single break opportunity to his opponent
and cracked in two out of seven serve breaks to dispose of the defending champion from the competition.
“I was really working on [my serve] after Wimbledon,” said Berdych in his post match reviews. “When I had few weeks off, I was really practising hard, and especially this was the one main thing that I was really like trying to
work on more than the other things.”
The 25-year-old Czech stung two vital serve breaks in the opening set to take the better of Federer early in the game and kept exerting pressure upon the third seed to submit in the next set.
“I was winning quite easily as far as games and I was able to play something more on his serve,” Berdych assessed. “It makes me more confident and then I can go more for the shots, especially on his second serve.”
No serve breaks were registered by any of the contestant in the second set, dragging the game into the tie breaker round. Berdych kept his impetus in the decider as well and raced away to victory at 7-6(3), booking a berth in the
semis of the Cincinnati Masters to face the world number one, Novak Djokovic of Serbia. The top seeded Serb took down the sixth seeded Frenchman, Gael Monfils, in the quarter-final draws of the tournament to reach the round of four.
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