Berdych Defeats Lopez to Move Closer to London Spot
Tomas Berdych defeated the 12th-seeded Feliciano Lopez at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris on Thursday, moving him into the quarterfinals. The Czech’s win also puts him one victory away from qualifying for the ATP World Tour Finals for the fifth consecutive year, which he will accomplish if he can move into the semifinals this week.
Berdych put together an impressive performance in his 7-5, 6-3 win over Lopez. Each player struggled with their serve early, as a couple of breaks in the first set brought the frame to 5-5.
The fifth-ranked player in the world would seize control from there, winning the next two games to avoid a tie-breaker and win the opening frame. He carried that momentum into the second set, holding serve in the opening game and then rattling off three more games to race out to a 4-0 lead.
Lopez would break back to try and get himself back into it, but he was overmatched by Berdych who was able to serve out the set and move into the final eight in Paris.
Berdych ripped eight aces and was able to break serve six of the eight times he could. His serve became much more efficient in that second set, converting on 81 percent of his first serve points.
He now moves into the quarterfinals and a matchup with Kevin Anderson, whom he is 11-0 against in his career. If Berdych makes it 12 straight over Anderson, he will punch his ticket into the final eight in London.
