Berdych Bows Out
The man who beat Nadal is taken out by Frenchman
Tomas Berdych didn’t have a lot of time to celebrate his victory over Rafael Nadal yesterday at the Rogers Cup.
The tournament’s No. 13 seed clearly was not able to implement the strategy that he instituted against last year’s defending champion and lost to Richard Gasquet in straight sets (6-4, 6-1).
While the match initially appeared to be close, Gasquet broking Berdych’s serve in the first set signaled the beginning of the end for the Czech player who never regained his composure. After the match, Berdych said that while he had a plan for Gasquet (as he did for Nadal), he just wasn’t able to implement it starting with his serve.
“Yeah, we had also the plan for today, but I was trying to keep on this plan. If on the start of this plan you are playing not so well, not serving well, then it’s not working, and then he’s beat you.”
Berdych also said that it takes awhile to get over the high of a big victory, like the one the one that he enjoyed over Nadal.
“Yeah, emotions is there after the big match like with Rafael,” he said. “But then you have to take everything out and then just go for another singles and just take the confidence from the match, and that’s all what you can leave in your head.”
While Gasquet didn’t see Berdych’s big win prior to their game, he sympathized with the situation.
“Maybe he was a little bit tired after Nadal,” he said. “I don’t know. I was sure it will be difficult it would be difficult for him to play against me after winning Nadal. It’s always difficult to do another match after a big victory.”
Gasquet is clearly one of the favourites in a tournament that has seen many seeded players fall. He attributed his strong showing to the powerful serve that he employed.
“Yeah, I served well and I returned well. I think against him it’s important because he is really aggressive, so I served a lot of first serves,” he said. “If I did a lot of second serve, it will be difficult because he has a great return and after he hits the ball really hard.”
Gasquet will now take on another talented youngster in one of Saturday’s semifinals. Andy Murray surprised the No. 14 seed Jarkko Nieminen on Friday in three sets (6-4, 6-7, 6-3).
