World Tour Finals – Day 4

Group A – second round

(7)Tomas Berdych d. (alt.)Janko Tipsarevic           2-6, 6-3, 7-6(6)                 [ 2:26 h ]

In February 2011, Tipsarevic’s appearance in the season-ending championships could seem ridiculous. The Serb was No. 52 without having won an ATP title, without spectacular results at the biggest tournaments, but in the second half of the year, Tipsy made an astonishing improvement to reach semifinal in Montreal, quarterfinal at the US Open and in Autumn won his first two titles (indoors). A meeting with Berdych was a very good match-up for him due to a favorable H2H. The Serbian player from the very beginning was playing without a stage-fright of the debutant. Berdych needed an hour to break him for the first time – it happened in the 8th game of the 2nd set. Both players were serving very well in the 3rd set (Tipsarevic in six service games won all points on 1st serve!) and for the third time in this year’s event a tie-break was decisive #. Berdych got two very important points at the net (great 19/21 at the net in the entire match) and led 5:3, but just like two days ago against Djokovic, forehand let him down. Tipsarevic had a match point worth 120,000$ on serve – attacked the net and missed a relatively easy backhand volley. He was so concentrated and tense that forgot to change the ends. He lost the serve again (double fault) and Berdych converted his first match point with a semi-lob forehand winner seeing Tipsarevic’s fall – the Serb returning the serve twisted his ankle a bit and left the court limping! “I was a bit unlucky on Monday“, said Berdych. “I got luckier here. So 1 all. Before the tie-break, I was feeling pretty good, I would say pretty confident. [The] last few games that I was serving was kind of quick [and] easy. But as long the tie-break went, it was really close.”

 (5)David Ferrer d.  (1)Novak Djokovic                    6-3, 6-1                           [ 1:15 h ]

Two shocking evenings in a row at the O2 Arena – the two best players in the world completely destroyed: Nadal won three games yesterday, Djokovic today just one game more against the rock-solid David “Pics” Ferrer, who wins the group and joins Federer as the second semifinalist. Djokovic stated: “All the credit to Ferrer, he played great match. It was the worst match I’ve played this season so far definitely. So many unforced errors. I’m not playing well – that’s a fact.” There’s no doubt D’Joke is exhausted after the extraordinary season, it is visible especially in his footwork when tries to hit his trademark shot – backhand down the line. At the current configuration to advance to the semi-finals, he needs to beat his compatriot Tipsarevic, counting on Ferrer’s win over Berdych *, and even if this happens, Federer awaits in the semi-finals as the leader of the other group…

Doubles results:
(4)M.Bhupathi/L.Paes d. (7)J.Melzer/P.Petzschner 7-5, 6-3
(1)B.Bryan/M.Bryan d. (6)R.Lindstedt/H.Tecau 6-1, 6-2

# Tie-breaks in the deciding 3rd set:

(.692) 9-4 Novak Djokovic
(.580) 18-13 Mardy Fish
(.565) 13-10 Tomas Berdych
(.500) 10-10 Rafael Nadal
(.250) 3-9 Janko Tipsarevic

* Djokovic advances also by a better ratio if he beats Tipsarevic 2-0 and Berdych beats Ferrer 2-1