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Berdych gets lucky to beat Tipsarevic
Berdych gets lucky to beat Tipsarevic
By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) - Tomas Berdych came within inches of a second consecutive defeat at the ATP World Tour Finals on Wednesday but rode his luck to beat Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic 2-6 6-3 7-6 at the O2 Arena.
Tipsarevic, who replaced Andy Murray in the draw after the Briton withdrew with a groin injury, ended the day with problems of his own after apparently hurting his knee towards the end of the match and hobbling off court.
Czech Berdych found himself in deep trouble when Tipsarevic crept into the net at 6-5 in the deciding-set tiebreak but, with victory seemingly within his grasp, the Serbian slid a backhand volley agonisingly wide of the sideline.
World number nine Tipsarevic then served a double fault to give Berdych his first match point.
The Czech world number seven had another slice of fortune when his opponent stumbled while trying to return serve.
Although his shot landed in, Tipsarevic tumbled to the floor again and was still flat out as Berdych calmly put the ball away into the empty court to end any hope the Serbian had of reaching the semi-finals.
"I was a bit unlucky on Monday but I got luckier here," Berdych, who lost a final set tiebreak against world number one Novak Djokovic, told reporters.
"There is still a good chance to qualify and go through. So we will see."
Tipsarevic played down fears that another alternate would have to be drafted in when he said he had simply banged his knee on the court surface when he slipped.
"My feeling now is that I will be ready for practice tomorrow afternoon," Tipsarevic said.
Berdych had never fared too well against Tipsarevic on the Tour and trailed 4-1 in their head-to-heads, although he did beat him at this month's Paris Masters, a victory that guaranteed his qualification for the season-ender.
He looked to be heading for another defeat when the first set slipped by in 37 minutes but he gradually found the range on his forehand to level the match.
In the final set tiebreak Berdych moved 5-3 ahead but a couple of nervy forehand errors had him on the brink of defeat until Tipsarevic let him off the hook.
"If I have gotten the chance one more time, I would still take that ball early and go to the net and play the volley," said the Serb who began the year ranked 49th in the world.
"I am not honestly at all disappointed because of the way I played on the match point."
Later on Wednesday, Djokovic can join Roger Federer in the semi-finals by beating Spain's David Ferrer. Should Djokovic win, Berdych would then need to beat Ferrer in his final Group A match to reach the semi-finals.
(Editing by Ed Osmond)
Source: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/wire-news/berdych-gets-lucky-to-beat-tipsarevic_623341.html
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