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  • Bastad Final: Tommy Robredo vs. Tomas Berdych

    7/13/08 12:49 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - The top four seeds all advanced to the Bastad semifinals, but none of the top two reached the final. It will be No. 3 Tommy Robredo vs. No. 4 Tomas Berdych for the title on Sunday.

    Tommy Robredo and Tomas Berdych will square off four the fourth time in their careers on Sunday afternoon in Bastad and the Catella Swedish Open title is at stake. Berdych is 2-1 in three previous clashes with Robredo, including 1-0 on clay. Their most recent encounter came last season on the clay courts of Monte-Carlo, where Berdych triumphed 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.

    Neither man has been particularly on fire in 2008, although Robredo enjoyed another stellar clay season after some struggles on hard courts. The Spaniard reached the quarterfinals in Valencia, Barcelona, and Rome, the final in Warsaw, and the third round in Rome after impressive victories over Stanislas Wawrinka and Robin Söderling. So far in Bastad Robredo has taken out Jonas Bjorkman, No. 7 seed Jarkko Nieminen, and top-seeded David Ferrer.

    Berdych, on the other hand, normally prefers faster surfaces and he brought just a 1-2 match record in ATP tournaments on clay this season into Bastad. The Czech's only win on the slow stuff came at the expense of unheralded Robert Smeets in the first round of the French Open. Berdych has dropped down to 23rd in the world and he is only 34th in the 2008 points race. This week, however, he has defeated Thomas Johansson, Potito Starace, and No. 2 seed Fernando Verdasco.

    Robredo would normally have the edge on clay, but that's hard to say considering Berdych just took out a solid clay-courter in Verdasco a few weeks after losing to him on grass at Wimbledon. If Berdych puts in a lot of first serves and is consistently aggressive with his returns he could overpower Robredo. He moves well for a big man, but he still can't afford to get lulled into baseline rallies. This should go three sets, but Robredo has been deep in far more tournaments than his opponent this season and he is due for a win.

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