Tomas Berdych, who hadn’t scored a big win since reaching the Wimbledon final, stops a four-match losing streak against Andy Roddick 7-5 6-3 in the ATP World Tour Finals.
The American now has little hope of qualifying for the semifinals as he also lost a three-setter to Rafael Nadal on Monday. He’ll be eliminated if Novak Djokovic beats Nadal in the later Group "A" match on Wednesday.
Berdych, who easily lost to Djokovic on Monday, saved two set points at 4-5 in the first set. Roddick received a warning after a missing a risky overhead to be broken to 3-2 in the second set when he smashed his racket on his foot in frustration and appeared to curse loudly.
Berdych will face Nadal on Friday, the same man who beat him in the Wimbledon finalsRafael Nadal also punched through, defeating Novak Djokovic 7-5 6-2 in match where the Serbian suffered eye trouble and the Spaniard got into a argument with tour supervisor Tom Barnes.
Djokovic called for a medical time out early in the eighth game because of a problem with his contact lenses. After he lost the first set, a doctor managed to remove the one that had been dislodged. Djokovic complained after losing the set that he was playing with "one eye."
While waiting to go back on court, Nadal got into an argument with Barnes, saying that the chair umpire shouldn't have been chiding him for taking too long in between points while Djokovic took a much longer time to have his eye treated.
With the win, Nadal improved to a 2-0 record at the top of Group A. Djokovic and Berdych each have one victory while Roddick has none. However, while Nadal is in the driver's seat, all four players can qualify for the semifinals. There are a eight different scenarios, but Roddick must beat Djokovic in straight sets and also hope that Nadal takes down Berdych in straight sets if he's going to qualify. If Berdych beats Nadal in two sets and Djokovic beats Roddick in two sets, Berdych and Djokovic will qualify. Berdych can beat Nadal in three sets and still not qualify if Djokovic beats Roddick. —Matthew Cronin