By Chris Oddo | Wednesday, November 11, 2014
The lopsided battles continue in London, as Tomas Berdych downed Marin Cilic, 6-3, 6-1 to stay alive in Group A.
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Tomas Berdych bounced back from a dismal performance against Stan Wawrinka on Monday to claim his first ATP World Tour Finals win on Wednesday, 6-3, 6-1, over Marin Cilic.
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The victory marks the fifth time that Berdych has responded with a victory after opening his World Tour Finals campaign with a loss.
On Wednesday it was never really in doubt. The Czech hit 16 winners against 17 unforced errors to avenge losses at Wimbledon and the US Open against Cilic, breaking four times in 11 opportunities to claim the victory in 74 minutes.
"I felt much better on the court," said Berdych, according to ATPworldtour.com. "Still it was not one of my best. That's fair to say. But I think that's the beauty of this event. One day you can be swept out from the court like I did and in two days' time you can come up and you can play a different tennis."
Cilic, who suffered an opening round thrashing at the hands of Novak Djokovic, missed out a double-break point in the seventh game of the first set, and after that his game went from shaky to downright off-kilter. He only managed a 50 percent first-serve percentage and, worse, only won 40 percent of his second-serve points.
The 2014 US Open champ amassed only 11 winners against 30 unforced errors, and has only taken six games in his first two matches at London. He’ll try to salvage some respect on Friday when he meets Stan Wawrinka in his final round-robin match.
Berdych, meanwhile, will face his old nemesis Djokovic on Friday, with a semifinal bid on the line.
The Czech has lost 16 of 18 against Djokovic, most recently suffering a beatdown at the hands of the world No. 1 in Beijing, 6-0, 6-2.
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Berdych is making his fifth appearance in London, with his best performance coming in 2011 when he reached the semifinals.
At 6’6” Cilic joins Juan Martin del Potro and Todd Martin as the tallest player in ATP World Tour Finals History.