Berdych Beats Isner to Set Up Semifinal Clash With Nadal

May 8, 2015 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Nadal_Crop_02
Photo credit: Adam Wolfthal

Rafael Nadal rolled into the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open on Friday, defeating 10th-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 6-4.

After an exchange of break points in the opening set, Nadal jumped out to a 4-2 advantage. Nadal regained his service form and would go on to close out the 50-minute opening set 6-3.

In the second, Dimitrov came out more aggressive and put a lot of pressure on Nadal’s serve. He broke in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead, but his form seemed to dip from there.

Nadal would get the break back and saved a break point of his own to jump ahead 5-4 and seize control of the set. On serve, Nadal closed out the contest on his second match point to reach the Madrid final four.

“Overall, I’m satisfied. I’m happy,” said Nadal. “I have made it to the semifinals, and I think that’s a great result for me, especially after losing in Barcelona the way I did. My goal is [t] feel myself playing better every day. That’s my real goal. Then obviously, the goal is always the same: [to] try to have the [best] result possible.”

Nadal improves to 56-11 in his career in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarterfinal matchups.

He gets sixth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych in the semis. Berdych came back from a set down to defeat 16th seeded American John Isner 3-6, 7-6(7), 7-6(1).

Berdych saved a set point in the second-set tiebreaker to extend the match. After forcing the match into a deciding third set, Berdych would cruise in the final set’s tiebreaker to complete the comeback and advance.

The Czech withstood 29 aces from Isner and fired 11 of his own. He won 86 percent of his first service points to keep Isner at bay.

The other semifinal in Madrid will feature the winner of second-seed Andy Murray and fifth-seed Milos Raonic against the winner of fourth-seed Kei Nishikori and seventh-seed David Ferrer. 


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Century
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