Berdych captures Shenzhen title
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TOMAS Berdych captured his 11th career ATP title, and his first this year, by beating Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 7-6 (7) in a rain-delayed Shenzhen Open final yesterday.
Berdych maintained his composure through another frustrating weather interruption to win in straight sets.
“The last three days were tough especially mentally to keep being very focused,” the top-seeded Czech said. “I was the one who dealt with that the best. I’m proud of myself to make it happen because these conditions were not easy at all.”
The victory gave the 30-year-old Berdych his first ATP title since last year’s Stockholm Open. He has also reached three other finals this year, at the Qatar Open, the Rotterdam Open and the Monte Carlo Masters, but lost them all.
In Beijing, China’s Zhang Ze promised to watch and learn from Novak Djokovic after he registered one of the best wins of his career yesterday to set up an expected meeting with the world No. 1.
Zhang, listed at 219 in the world, savored a rare victory over a top-100 player as he upset Uzbekistan’s 70th-ranked Denis Istomin 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in the China Open first round.
Djokovic, who is on a 24-match unbeaten streak in Beijing, was scheduled to play against Simone Bolelli.
“After I saw the draw, I knew that I would meet first a qualifier and then Novak. A lot of people say, ‘Cheer up, I hope you can meet Novak’,” Zhang said. “What I was focusing on was the first round. I’m really happy. I’ll prepare for the next match. I know Novak is No. 1. I will watch his videos and I will just enjoy this match.”
Meanwhile, Eugenie Bouchard’s concussion nightmare extended into the China Open as she felt faint and tearfully retired in the first round — shortly after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was also struck by dizzy spells.
Bouchard has not played since she slammed her head in a locker-room fall at the US Open, and she lasted just 10 games against Andrea Petkovic before feeling dizzy and having her blood pressure checked.
The Canadian sobbed into her towel and was comforted by Petkovic before she rose and walked out, waving grimly to the Beijing crowd, with the scoreline standing 6-2, 1-1 to her opponent.
Earlier Tsonga refused to blame Beijing’s air pollution as he was also hit by dizzy spells before falling at the first hurdle 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 to little-known Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer.
The departures of Tsonga and Bouchard come after women’s top seeds Simona Halep and Petra Kvitova, troubled by injury and illness, both exited on Sunday.
In Tokyo, defending champion Kei Nishikori of Japan was given a real scare by teen ace Borna Coric, of Croatia, yesterday before sealing a 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 comeback win in the first round of the Rakuten Japan Open. The 38th-ranked Coric is the youngest player in the top 50 of the ATP world rankings.
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