By Chris Oddo | Monday, January 26, 2015
Tomas Berdych roughed up a haggard Rafael Nadal to snap a personal 17-match losing streak against him.
Photo Source: Corleve
Tomas Berdych had waited a long, long time for this. Eight full seasons and 17 opportunities to defeat Rafael Nadal had come and gone, and with each decisive blow struck by Nadal it seemed more and more likely that Berdych would never beat the Spaniard. But that all turned on a dime on Day 9 in Melbourne as Berdych roughed up Nadal, 6-2, 6-0, 7-6(5) to reach the Australian Open semis for the second time.
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“I was definitely ready for it,” said Berdych. “I set up my plan pretty well and I stuck with that all the way through those three sets. I think that was the biggest difference from the last matches.”
As far as Nadal's plan goes, it didn't appear that he was physically well enough to implement or execute one.
Berdych would benefit from a lack of fire from Nadal in the early going, and once the Spaniard dumped consecutive errors into the net to give Berdych the initial break at 3-1 of the first set, it was apparent that Nadal had very little—if any—of the gusto that he had shown in blasting past world No. 15 Kevin Anderson in the round of 16 on Day 7.
Nadal would have an early chance to break back in that first set and when he missed his chance he punched his strings like a man that knew there wouldn’t be many more of them.
There weren’t.
Berdych’s bombs kept landing and Nadal never found ways to dictate the play in the first two sets. The Czech closed the opener without difficulty and raced through the second set, getting the first break for a 2-0 lead when Nadal netted a backhand and claiming the 4-0 break when Nadal double-faulted. Berdych would break again two games later, handing Nadal his first bagel at a major since 2006, and only the third of his Grand Slam career.
“You have to play well to win against a player like Tomas,” Nadal said. “I didn't play my best today. He played better than me and that's it. That's the sport. Sometimes, almost every time, is simple: the player who plays better, the player who is able to maintain the better rhythm, the better concentration, play with less mistakes, is the player who has more success. And today this player has been Tomas.”
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Nadal did lift his game in the third set significantly, but Berdych, who struck 46 winners against 21 unforced errors on the match, elevated his level as well.
Nadal’s championship grit emerged as he saved a break point with an ace down the T, then closed out the hold by punching a forehand winner for 4-all.
A few games later Nadal demonstrated his mettle again when he saved two match points to force a third-set tiebreaker. He would even rally back from 5-1 down in the breaker to 5-4, but Berdych never wilted and would eventually close the mammoth upset on his fourth match point when a big second serve proved too difficult for Nadal to handle.
Notes, Numbers, Tweets
Berdych would have owned the record for longest Open Era losing streak against a single player had he lost. Instead he remains tied with three others at 17.
Borg d. Gerulaitis, 17
Lendl d. Mayotte, 17
Lendl d. Connors, 17
The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam where Nadal has a losing head-to-head record against Top 10 players. He has a 5-7 win-loss record against Top 10 players at the Aussie Open compared with 18-0 at Roland Garros, 6-3 at Wimbledon and 5-4 at the US Open.