Tomas Berdych splits apart Viktor Troicki to clear round two – Gerry Weber Open 2012
World number seven, Tomas Berdych, won his second round match against the 33rd ranked Serb, Viktor Troicki, on Wednesday and booked a spot in the quarter-finals of the Gerry Weber Open. He registered straight sets triumph
6-3, 6-2 taking just a fraction over an hour.
Troicki started off in dashing fashion; smashing three back-to-back winners down the line and hold serve to love. The third seed Czech replied back emphatically by smashing two winners across the court and winning a point with
a perfectly placed drop shot to hold serve.
The Serb was tested in his second serve but he did well to save a breakpoint and hold serve. An impressive serve hold from his rival pushed the scores to 2-2. The tables were turned upon the 26-year-old Serb in the fifth game when
he was powered down with three cracking winners. Berdych clasped the first breakpoint of the match in that game and held her serve to 40:15 that consolidated his position further.
Troicki couldn’t respond back with a breakthrough whilst lost another serve game that proved to be the final action from the opening set of the match. Considering the class of both players it was expected that the match to be a
bit closer especially considering that the Serb has defeated Berdych once in their four previous meetings.
The momentum kept flowing in favour of the third seed Czech who broke serve in the first return game of the second set; held his serve to further push the lead to 3-0. Trailing one set down and already three games behind his rival,
the Serb couldn’t find his way back into the match.
Berdych kept exerting the pressure on his competitor and finally grabbed another breakthrough in the eighth game to confirm his place in the last eight of the tournament.
In a post-match interview, Berdych said, “After a long time of not playing on grass, since last year, the first match can be really tricky. The only thing you can really be focussed and concentrate on is your own game and your
own serve, which I was doing pretty well. When you’re serving well you put some pressure on the opponent, he starts to make some mistakes, gives you some chances to break. That’s what happened today.”
Berdych awaits the winner of the clash between the sixth seed Spaniard, Marcel Granollers, and the German superstar, Tommy Haas.
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