(November 12, 2011) While many question whether or not Roger Federer is still capable of winning the big events at 30 years of age, he does not need to convince his semifinal opponent Tomas Berdych. The Swiss Maestro gathered victory number 801 with a 6-4, 6-3 clinic over the World No. 7 in just 81 minutes.
The Czech sputtered at the start of the match, giving Federer the opening he needed to earn a break to go up 2-0. From there the World No. 4 was on cruise control, limiting Berdych to only six points on return.
Closing out the first set 46 minutes, Federer began the second set in the same fashion, earning an early break. With the set and break advantage, things looked bleak for Berdych who was unable to read the serve of Federer.
After giving up only four points on his serve in the second set, Federer closed the match out by breaking the dejected Czech at love, adding yet another milestone to his collection. With the win, Federer became the first player to reach the final of all nine Masters 1000 events in his career.
By the end of the match, Federer had accumulated an impressive 34 winners to only 13 unforced errors. Errors from Berdych began to pile up, who ended the match with 20 errors, too many for his 10 aces to overcome against the onslaught of Federer.
When asked about his form at the moment, Federer was pleased, saying, “The way I played today was really nice. I thought the match was tough. I took advantage of Tomas being a touch slow maybe in the first couple of games, because one that machine is warmed up he’s a very dangerous player.”
Berdych walked away from the match without question on the state of Federer’s game, saying, “I would say, and I’m pretty confident to say, that that’s the old Roger. You know, the years that he was really winning everything. We can count the unforced errors that he hit, like maybe, on the fingers of one hand, which is incredible. He started every set really great and just didn’t give me any chance at all.”
Federer will be going for his third title of the year, and 13th career Masters 1000 title against the winner of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and John Isner.