Giant-killer Berdych in final
Tomas Berdych clinched a place in the Wimbledon final for the first time as the Czech 12th seed defeated Serbian third seed Novak Djokovic 6-3, 7-6 (11/9), 6-3 on Friday.
Berdych, the first Czech man to reach the Wimbledon final since Ivan Lendl in 1987, has been a dangerous force on the ATP Tour for the last five years.
But he hadn’t been able to translate his talent into success at the Grand Slams until the last month.
S
ince the start of the French Open, the 24-year-old has been in the form of his life. He reached the semifinals at Roland Garros and totally overwhelmed six-time champion Roger Federer in the quarters here.
That stunning victory over Federer ended the defending champion’s run of seven successive Wimbledon final appearances but, more importantly, it confirmed Berdych’s transformation into a big-game player.
Now he can look forward to a first Grand Slam final appearance against world number one Rafael Nadal or Britain’s Andy Murray.
Berdych is an undemonstrative soul on court, but his lack of visible emotion reflects his clinical approach to the game.
He plays with metronomic efficiency and allows his opponents to beat themselves at times.
Standing a lofty 6ft 5in tall, Berdych had Djokovic looking slightly inhibited and it wasn’t long before those tactics paid off as the Serb missed two forehands to give Berdych the first break after six games and he served out the set.
Berdych racked up three break points of his own at 5-5 and converted the second when Djokovic smashed an overhead way off target to surrender his serve.
That looked like being a killer blow for Djokovic, but he raised himself when Berdych served for the set and broke for the first time to force a tie-break.
He was chasing down every ball and even when he fell 6-2 behind in the breaker, he managed to save the four set-points.
Djokovic fought off another two set-points and seemed to be turning the tide, but suddenly he imploded as a double-fault gifted Berdych the set.
That was the defining moment of the match. After fighting so hard to stay in the tie, Djokovic was a spent force in the third set.
Paes in mixed final
Leander Paes and his mixed doubles partner Zimbabwean Cara Black advanced to the final of the Wimbledon by defeating the Czech pair Lukas Dlouhy and Iveta Benesova 6-3, 6-3.
Second seed Paes and Black will now face the winner of the other semifinal clash in which South African-American pair of Wesley Moodie and Lisa Raymond take on Brazilian-Australian pair of Marcelo Melo and Rennae Stubbs.
After pocketing the first game, Paes and Black continued to dominate the proceedings and clinched the next game with an identical 6-3 scoreline. — Agencies
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