Tomas-Berdych.net         

No. 2 seed Tomas Berdych against No. 3 seed Nicolas Almagro; like in the first semi-final (Tsonga vs Baghdatis), neither man has dropped a set all week - but unlike the first semi-final, this head-to-head is a little bit closer, with Berdych up 7-3, including 3-1 on hard courts. Berdych is making his fourth appearance at this event (4-3 record). He is playing in his eighth ATP World Tour semi-final of the year (3-4 record) and is trying to reach his 16th ATP World Tour final [7-8]. Berdych is No. 6 in the Race to the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.

H2H Tomas Berdych vs Nicolas Almagro

Almagro FastFacts:

 

2012 Highlights:

W(2): Sao Paulo (d Volandri); Nice (d Baker); F(2): Buenos Aires (l Ferrer); Bastad (l Ferrer); SF(2): Chennai (l Raonic); Hamburg (l Monaco); QF(5): Auckland (l Kohlschreiber); Acapulco (l Verdasco); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells (l Djokovic); Roland Garros (l Nadal); London Olympics (l Murray)

YTD W-L: 55-19 (15-8 on hard)

YTD Titles: 2/Career Titles: 12

Date of Birth: August 21, 1985

South African Airways ATP Ranking: 12

• Almagro, 27, is making his debut this week and has held serve 19 of 20 games, winning 67% of second serve points

• The No. 3 Spaniard (behind No. 4 Nadal, No. 5 Ferrer) is playing in his seventh ATP World Tour semi-final of the year (4-2 record), his second on hard courts (Chennai in January)

• He is trying to reach his 19th ATP World Tour final, first on hard courts (12-6 in career, all on clay)

• He is No. 10 in the Race to the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals (three spots are available)

• Has a career record of 1-18 against Top 10 players on hard courts (his lone win in all of those matches came against none other than Berdych at Indian Wells in March, 64 60)

SPANIARDS IN TOP 25 – Almagro is one of an ATP World Tour-high five Spaniards in the Top 25 :

No. 4 Rafael Nadal

No. 5 David Ferrer

No. 12 Nicolas Almagro

No. 23 Fernando Verdasco

No. 24 Marcel Granollers

Berdych FastFacts:

2012 Highlights:

W: Montpellier (d Monfils); F(2): ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid (l Federer); Winston-Salem (l Isner); SF(4): Rotterdam (l Del Potro); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo (l Djokovic); US Open (l Murray); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Shanghai (l Djokovic); QF(5): Australian Open (l Nadal); Dubai (l Murray); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rome (l Nadal); Halle (l Haas); Tokyo (l Nishikori)

YTD W-L: 55-19 (35-11 on hard)

YTD Titles: 1/Career Titles: 7

Date of Birth: September 17, 1985

South African Airways ATP Ranking: 6

• Berdych, 27, is making his fourth appearance at this event (4-3 record), the first in the semi-finals…He fell in 1st Rd. in 2004 (l. to Tipsarevic), reached QFs in 2006 (l. to Soderling) and fell 2nd Rd. in 2010 (l. to Nieminen)…Has held serve 18 of 19 games (95%), saving 10 of 11 break points (91%)

• Has a 55-19 match record on the season and his match wins total is a career-high (53 last year), including 35-11 on hard courts

• The top Czech Republic native is playing in his eighth ATP World Tour semi-final of the year (3-4) and he is trying to reach his 16th ATP World Tour final (7-8 record)…In February, he captured his eighth career ATP World Tour title in Montpellier (d. Monfils)

• Berdych is No. 6 in the Race to the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals (Top 5 have qualified)

 

Order of Play - Saturday, October 20, 2012

CENTRE COURT - Matches Start At: 1:00 pm

Jo-Wilfried TSONGA (FRA) [1] vs Marcos BAGHDATIS (CYP) [7]

followed by

[WC] Nicolas ALMAGRO (ESP) [3] vs Tomas BERDYCH (CZE) [2]

followed by

Robert LINDSTEDT (SWE)/Nenad ZIMONJIC (SRB) [1] vs Kevin ANDERSON (RSA)/Jonathan ERLICH (ISR)

 

 

 

Click the Thumbnail to view score and stats

 

 

Berdych through to Stockholm final

Tomas Berdych returns the ball in the semi final match against Spain's Nicolas Almagro during the Stockholm Open tennis tournament at the Royal Tennis Hall in Stockholm, Sweden, Saturday, October 20, 2012.

Tomas Berdych sets up Stockholm final with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Tomas Berdych shakes hands with Spain's Nicolas Almagro after Berdych's victory by 6-3, 6-2, in their semi-final of the Stockholm Open tennis tournament at the Royal Tennis Hall in Stockholm, Sweden, Saturday Oct. 20, 2012.

 

Tomas Berdych previews his final clash with top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga