Tomas Berdych Beats Andy Roddick in London's ATP World Tour Final

Lauren LynchNov 24, 2010

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(November 24, 2010) Two set points slipped away from Andy Roddick in the first set, and his inability to convert left his final four hopes fading to black as he walked off the blue court today.

Tomas Berdych snatched a 7-5, 6-3 ATP World Tour Finals comeback victory to drop Roddick's record to 0-2 in the round-robin event and virtually snuff out any shot the eighth-seeded American had of advancing to Saturday's semifinals in London's O2 Arena.

The sixth-seeded Berdych snapped a four-match losing streak to Roddick in beating the former world No. 1 for the first time since the 2008 Tokyo semifinals.

The Wimbledon runner-up's win means Novak Djokovic can secure a semifinal spot by beating world No. 1 Rafael Nadal in tonight's second Group A round-robin match. Djokovic crushed Berdych, 6-3, 6-3, in his opening round-robin match on Monday.

The 28-year-old Roddick played some of the best tennis of his career in defeating Nadal and Berdych back to back to capture the Sony Ericsson Open crown in Miami in April, and in rematches here Roddick has held leads over both men only to get slightly conservative at crunch time. Nadal fought back for a gripping 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 triumph, and Berdych rallied past Roddick today after saving set points on two second serves serving at 4-5 today.

At 3-4, 30-all, Roddick let a golden opportunity for break point slip when he dug out a wide serve and then caught a break when Berdych, at net, went right back to Roddick's favored forehand. Rather than rip the forehand crosscourt or at least force Berdych to make a volley, Roddick tried to play over his head, but his lob lacked height. Berdych slammed it away and held at 30 for 4-all.

Roddick, who was untroubled on serve for much of the set, held at 15 for 5-4.

Serving to stay in the set, Berdych misfired on a forehand approach and fell behind 15-30.

Learning from his misguided lob in Berdych's prior service game, Roddick pounced on a poor approach and rifled a forehand, and when Berdych clanked a volley into net, Roddick had two set points.

A running Roddick backhand missed the mark on the first set point, and Berdych saved the second with an overhead. Roddick sliced back a forehand return on the first set point, banking on Berdych, who had slumped to an 8-13 record since reaching the Wimbledon final in July, to get tight and concede. It never happened. Berdych won both set points on second serves, used a service winner to gain ad and held with a slick stretch backhand half volley winner for 5-all.

Untested on serve throughout the set, Roddick double-faulted at 40-15. Two points later, he sent a backhand beyond the baseline to hand Berdych a break point. Reacting to a second serve down the middle, Berdych flicked a forehand return winner to break Roddick for the first time in six sets and take a 6-5 lead.

When Roddick sent a forehand into net, Berdych snatched a first set he was on the verge of losing minutes earlier. Roddick had won nine of the prior 10 sets he played against the towering Czech but played it a bit too safe on set points and never really recovered.

With wife Brooklyn Decker looking concerned in the stands, Roddick saved a break point with a wide serve, but on the second break point, Berdych lifted a lob into the corner. Roddick's sliced overhead from deep in the court narrowly missed the sideline as Berdych
broke for a 3-2 second-set edge, and Roddick went for broke in smashing his Babolat Pure Drive against the bottom of his sneaker as reached his court-side seat.

The action, which followed Roddick belting a ball in frustration, prompted a code violation warning from chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani.

"My racquet on my foot, what the hell does it matter to you?" Roddick asked chair umpire Lahyani, who quickly pointed out the ball-blasting, racquet-smashing double play prompted the call.

Berdych won five of the final six games to keep his semifinal hopes alive.