SEOPen: Federer Loses to Berdych in Miami
March 31, 2010 · Print This Article
Key Biscayne, Fla—For the second straight tournament, top seed Roger Federer lost to a lesser foe after holding match points.
Losing the Marcos Baghdatis in the third-round of the Indian Wells event in California, Federer was defeated in the fourth-round of the Sony Ericsson Open late Tuesday night by Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (8) in two hours and 51 minutes.
Holding a match point at 6-5 in the third set tiebreak, Federer saw his chance at advancing to the quarterfinals disappear when Berdych hit a laser like forehand winner crosscourt.
Needing only one match point to advance, Berdych captured his first victory over Federer since the 2004 Athens Olympics.
The match, which was riveting, saw both players combine for a more than 100 unforced errors.
Federer’s serve wasn’t as potent as he would have liked, hitting five aces and winning only 74 percent of his first serve points. Berdych wasn’t much better with his serving statistics, striking six aces while winning 67 percent of his first serve points.
“I fought as much as I could,” Federer said. “My game has issues at the moment. I’m definitely lacking timing. I don’t know where that comes from.”
Nevertheless, an relieved Berdych was in disbelief after his victory, showing great pride to his coach Tomas Krupa.
“After a match like that, the feeling is great,” Berdych said. “I’m really happy the way I finish it.”
Federer will now return to Switzerland, where he will begin preparations for his French Open defense at the Roma Masters 1000 in Italy.
After a forgettable hard-court season, Federer will enter the clay of Europe with a 13-3 record.
“It fuels my desire to go to the practice courts, because I don’t like to lose these type of matches,” Federer said.
Berdych will head to a quarterfinal clash on Thursday against Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.
Verdasco scored an upset win earlier in the day over Marin Cilic 6-4, 7-6 (3).
Quotes from ASAP.
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