Nadal Pushes Past Berdych, Will Face Ferrer in Rome Semis

By Chris Oddo Photo Credit: AP Photo

(May 18, 2012)—Five-time ATP Rome champion Rafael Nadal kept his bid for a sixth title alive with a hard-fought 6-4, 7-5 win over Tomas Berdych today.

“It was a big match and one of the higher quality matches this year because the level of the opponent is high,” said Nadal of the two-hour, six-minute battle with the hard-hitting Czech. “He plays with high confidence and I played under pressure all the time.”

Nadal saved the only break point he faced in the first set, and in spite of winning only eight return points in the first set he was able to notch the only break of serve to take the first.

In the second, Berdych broke Nadal to lead at 4-2, but he managed to lose his grip on the set when things got tense. He was broken in the next game when Nadal ran down his drop shot attempt to flick a winner cross court.

He was broken again while serving at 5-5 after hitting a drive volley right onto Nadal’s racquet when he had the whole court to work with. Nadal accepted Berdych’s generosity, drilling a backhand past him for double break point.

Berdych mounted resistance with Nadal serving for the match at 6-5, hitting scorching forehands to get to 30-30, but when Nadal hit a perfect dropshot on the back end of a grueling rally on the next point, he had finally earned a match point.

Berdych saved one, but on the second his attempt at a forehand winner went wide, handing Nadal the victory.

Nadal will face his compatriot David Ferrer in the semifinals.

Ferrer was a 7-6(4), 6-3 winner over Richard Gasquet in the first match of the day.

Nadal holds a 14-4 edge in his career head-to-head over Ferrer, including a win in the Barcelona final a few weeks ago.