Berdych Saves 2 M.P. To Reach Montpellier Semi-finals
Berdych Saves 2 M.P. To Reach Montpellier Semi-finals
Shapovalov and Tsonga feature later today
Tomas Berdych saved two match points on Friday to keep alive his chances of winning the Open Sud de France for the second time. The 2012 champion scraped past Filip Krajinovic of Serbia 7-6(3), 6-7(5), 7-5 in two hours and 42 minutes for a place in the semi-finals.
Berdych looked on course for his 10th match win of the year when he led Krajinovic by a set and a break, at 4-3 in the second set. But Krajinovic surged back and broke in the first game of the decider en route to a 5-3 advantage. At 4-5, Berdych saved two match points from 15/40 and went onto win 14 of the next 18 points to complete victory.
The 33-year-old Czech, who fell to No. 79 in ATP Rankings on 28 January, his lowest position since No. 79 on 16 August 2004, will next play third-seeded NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov or seventh seed Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France on Saturday.
Later today, during the night session, sixth seed Jeremy Chardy takes on fellow Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a three-time former semi-finalist, and Cypriot qualifier Marcos Baghdatis challenges Radu Albot of Macedonia.
