Article

  • Berdych the major casualty on day 3

    3/6/08 8:21 AM | David Cox
    - Tomas Berdych was the prime casualty on day 3, his poor record against Feliciano Lopez continued, the Czech crashing to a 6-2, 7-5 defeat. Simply, Lopez served better and converted more chances, taking 4/5 break points; Berdych just 1/3

    Andy Murray nearly followed him out of the competition, just a handful of points away from defeat to Fernando Verdasco. If the Spaniard had made a tough volley on the stretch on break point at 5-5, Murray could well be on the plane home by now. The Scot’s big serving rescued him in the first set, Verdasco conceding the only break with a double fault. At times it resembled a practise match, Murray patiently rallying and reluctant to go for anything in the windy conditions and the crowd could be forgiven for managing little more than a few half-hearted cheers. Murray dropped serve at the start of the second with an ill-advised drop shot. He broke back for 3-4 but dropped serve again almost instantly. Going into the 3rd, Verdasco looked the favourite, his hitting determining the outcome of most points and the match was really in his hands. It looked like the Spaniard’s chance had gone when he fell 4-2 down, spraying one too many forehands into the tramlines. However, Murray appeared almost casual as he handed the break straight back with more mistimed dropshots. Serving at 5-5, Murray looked in deep trouble at break point down but Verdasco couldn’t handle the pace of his backhand pass. The decisive tiebreak was nervy stuff, some wild Verdasco forehands giving Murray a 3-0 lead and a big serve made it 6-2. However, 3 loose shots later and Murray was looking at his final match point at 6-5. A 34 shot rally followed but ultimately it was Verdasco who fired long

    “I was struggling to find the right shots and was mis-hitting a lot of balls - I’m just glad to get through in the end,” Murray said.

    David Ferrer and Nikolay Davydenko both advanced but with markedly different matches. Ferrer had to sweat it out for over 2 and a half hours against Olly Rochus, coming from 6-3, 4-2 down before finally breaking the Belgian’s spirit in the decider; 3-6, 7-5, 6-1. Davydenko barely broke sweat to beat Jan Hernych 6-1, 6-4

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