Berdych Out of Washington
Top seeded in Washington, Czech Tomas Berdych ended his journey to the final in one of his toughest matches at the American tournament against Belgian Xavier Malisse who beat the angry Berdych in three sets after losing the second. The Belgian player won the first set with 6-4, but conceded the second at three, Berdych sending in this way the match into decisive. But it was also the Belgian who took advantage from the Czech, quite an easy one that allowed him to win the last set 6-2. Eight seeded in Washington Berdych provided one of his poorest matches in the US, falling asleep after the first set. He said: “The first set I felt like I was still sleeping.”
“Playing late last night and then early today I didn’t even get 12 hours. This is a really bad experience for a top seed. I was not 100 per cent ready. That’s very sad for me. I wanted to play good but there was no chance.” Berdych came after an interrupted third round against Kazakhstan Andrey Golubev who needed to be played in two days, thing which exhausted Berdych and made him claim he won’t return in Washington in 2011. Concerning this, the Czech declared: “Maybe I won’t come next year. If you like the tournament and the place then you always want to come back. If you have an experience like this, well, we’ll have to see.” However, Berdych didn’t show pretty much of being among the main favorites at the US tournament, his previous matches ending in three sets. Furthermore, he barely got a 53 percent of his first serve in the quarter final against Mallise, who is 62 ranked in ATP.
The Belgian declared on his own it was a very good opponent to deal with, the match going head to head according to him so as either of the two could win the game. “It was tough, but we finished almost at the same time. So we both faced the same thing. You have to get through it,” while Berdych woke up and said the Belgian deserved to win the match. “I don’t see any other sport that would have it like that. It’s the quarter-finals, quite a big tournament. Every one wants to see good tennis, not two players sleeping on the court.”
Xavier Malisse will face former junior world champion Marcos Baghdatis in the semi final, while the other will be disputed between Croatia’s Marin Cilic and David Nalbandian from Argentina, both of them progressing into the semis quite easily, except probably Nalbandian who needed three sets in order to crash out Frenh Gilles Simon, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.11
