ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP)—Tomas Berdych defeated Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 Thursday to set up a semifinal with top-ranked Rafael Nadal at the World Tennis Championships.
Robin Soderling stopped Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1 and will face No. 2 Roger Federer. Nadal and Federer received byes into the semifinals of the exhibition.
“It is the just the perfect start by playing matches like this one and then the next day to play the No. 1 player in the world,” said the sixth-ranked Berdych.
Berdych got off to a strong start against the error-prone Baghdatis, moving out to a 3-1 lead on his way to winning the first set. The 20th-ranked Cypriot rallied in the second set, mixing in drop shots with a potent serve that produced several aces to even the match.
Berdych appeared to be coasting in the third, breaking Baghdatis in the sixth game and taking a 5-2 lead. But erratic play by Berdych allowed Baghdatis back into the match. He tied it 5-5 with an ace before hitting a drop shot into the net to give Berdych a 6-5 lead on his way took to the win.
Baghdatis said he was satisfied with his performance despite the loss.
“This is my first match in two months and to play a top player is not easy,” he said. “But I am pretty happy with my performance, playing good tennis, moving well on court. There were some moments in the match that I played well.”
The fifth-ranked Soderling took a 3-1 lead in the first set thanks to a powerful serve.
Tsonga found his rhythm in the second set, serving an ace to go up 4-3 and two more to go ahead 6-5 before rallying to win the tiebreaker.
Soderling took a 3-0 lead in the third set and cruised the rest of the way.