Djokovic Sets Berdych Clash
Djokovic Sets Berdych Clash
World No. 1 lands 12th victory from 13 meetings with Czech veteran
Top seed Novak Djokovic survived a second-set scare to hold off inspired veteran Radek Stepanek in the Rogers Cup third round on Thursday night. The three-time champion denied the 37-year-old Czech, the oldest man in the draw, 6-2, 6-4 to book a quarter-final showdown with Stepanek’s countryman and doubles partner, Tomas Berdych.
Djokovic claimed 79 per cent of first-serve points in the one-hour, 28-minute display breaking twice to take the opening set before a scrambling Stepanek produced the shot of the match to bring up a break point in the opening game of the second.
Seemingly out of the point, the Czech, who had come through qualifying to reach the third round, skidded wide to scoop a backhand crosscourt before angling a forehand pass on the run out of reach of the Serbian. Working the Toronto crowd into a frenzy, he broke and held for 2-0 before the world No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings managed to level.
Djokovic sealed the result with a fourth break of serve to extend his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Stepanek to 12-1. He will carry en equally imposing 24-2 record into his quarter-final clash with fifth-seeded Berdych, who earlier outlasted American qualifier Ryan Harrison 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-4.
It marks Berdych’s fourth trip to the Rogers Cup quarter-finals, though he has yet to reach the semi-finals. The closest he came was a third-set tie-break defeat to Roger Federer in the 2010 quarter-finals. He also reached the last eight in 2006 and 2011.
The Czech gave himself another chance to break through with the win over Harrison, a player who produced some of his best tennis in years this week to reach the third round, including a three-set win over ninth seed John Isner in the second round.
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Berdych broke the 24 year old at 5-4 in the first set and had a match point on Harrison’s serve at 6-5 in the second set. But the World No. 144 erased it and dominated the tie-break to force a third set. At 1-all, Berdych broke Harrison and later erased the lone break point he’d face to move into the last eight.
Talk About Angles: Watch Harrison Hot Shot
The 30 year old won 88 per cent of his first-serve points (51/55) and recorded 19 aces. Harrison won consecutive matches on the ATP World Tour for the second week in a row. He also qualified and reached the third round in Washington before falling to semi-finalist Steve Johnson.
