Berdych victorious at 15th Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany In his second attempt to win the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, Tomas Berdych succeeded against Marcos Baghdatis in two straight sets, 7-5, 6-4 on the Cypriot’s 22nd birthday. Berdych lost last year in the finals to Federer. With a break chance in the first game, Berdych put his opponent under pressure right from the beginning. He nearly gave a point away when serving whereas Baghdatis had to fight in order to get his own service games through. Then the Cyprian got going and with two break balls at 4:5 suddenly had a double chance for the first set. But Berdych stayed calm, saved his game, countered with a break afterwards and won the set 7-5. He set off the second set with a break again and then used his impressive serves to win 7-5, 6-4. Baghdatis, who repeatedly stated that the title in Halle would be a marvelous birthday present, had no chance to be sad: The 12,000 fans at center court sang “Happy Birthday” to him and he was handed a birthday cake by organizer Ralf Weber. “I‘ve never had anything like that before, I will still celebrate my birthday and my mother will congratulate me”. He also thinks that the defeat helps for Wimbledon, where he made it into the semifinals in 2006. “Last year I had a chance there to win it. Why shouldn’t I do it this year?” Berdych follows Roger Federer, who won in Halle the past four years but had to withdraw this year due to exhaustion after his tough French Open final. “It feels fantastic to be back again and this time win it" he commented his victory. It is his third career title ever and experts agree that there is much more to come. Not having lost a set during the whole tournament, the young Czech with the big serve has definitely proven that he belongs in the top ten. Like Baghdatis he has great hopes for Wimbledon and statistics are with him: In the past four years, the winner of Gerry Weber Open (namely Roger Federer) has always won Wimbledon afterwards. When confronted with this fact and asked if he thinks that he could do it this year he stated “Why not?” At least he is well-prepared after his great week in Halle. The Gerry Weber Open, named after a German Fashion Company, is a relatively young tournament. Founded in 1993, it has become a serious alternative to the simultaneously occurring tournament at Queen’s Club, London, attracting top-players year after year. Especially the quiet and relaxed atmosphere (Halle is a very lovely, small town) combined with exemplary facilities (players are placed in a hotel which is located right beside the center court) make the player’s enjoy their stay. Noteworthy is also the outstanding charity program whose fundraising since 1993 adds up to 450,000$ and which has won the ATP award of Excellence (Best Charity Program) the last two years in a row. To focus on tennis again, this year’s Gerry Weber Open held many surprises. The first one occurred even before the tournament started: Roger Federer, who has played (and won) in Halle for the last four years, announced his drop out due to exhaustion after his French Open final against Rafael Nadal. “I try to avoid an injury” the Swiss said “but I’m eager to return to Halle in 2008”. He was especially disappointed about his surrender, as he has “always enjoyed the hospitality” and “loved to play in Halle”. As a replacement came “lucky loser” Andrej Pavel from Romania who beat last year’s quarter finalist Olivier Rochus in the first round but then lost against Jarkko Nieminen. The remaining two top-ten players in the draw were Nikolay Davydenko and, for the first time in Halle, James Blake. Davydenko, ranked number four in the world, has already played in Halle in 2003 and 2004, always lost in the first round (round of 32) and then unsuccessfully tried to do better in Queen’s where he also dropped out in the first round, always beaten by players not in the top 50. It seems as if he’s cursed on grass as he has won only one match on this surface in his entire career (2005 at Wimbledon). This year he decided to play in Halle again and improved this count to two. He beat the Austrian Juergen Melzer (ranked 32 in the world) in three sets, 7-6, 4-6, 6-2. It was a quite ordinary match with probably the only highlight being a serve of Melzer in the penultimate game that hit Davydenko in the eye. The Russian recovered from the hit and could play Florian Mayer (ranked 37 in the world) in the second round against whom he lost clearly in two sets (6-4, 6-4). There was “zero disappointment” on Davydenko’s side as he just plays “normally” on grass. The other top-ten player, James Blake from the United States, had much bigger plans. He came to Halle for the very first time after reaching the final against Lleyton Hewitt in Queen’s last year. “I chose the quiet over the hectic city life of London, maybe it’s a sign of me getting a little older“, the number eight of the world joked. Blake generally seemed very enthusiastic and jocular during the tournament, entertaining spectators and reporters with his acrobatic moves and witty comments. When entering a press conference he looked at the pictures of the former winners and commented it afterwards with “If I’m going to hold that trophy, I’m going to smile more than any of those guys, because they don’t look like they just won a tournament, they look like they just lost their dog or something.” Another time, after there was an obviously false call made against him, he smashed an ace in the middle of the service box, waited for the umpire to announce the point and then turned the audiences clapping into laughter by asking the line guard for correction. It was this mood which quickened the American. In the first round he played his official training partner Sam Querrey who gave him an unexpectedly hard, won the first set 6-4 and broke Blake in the beginning of the second set. Then Blake played up, gained a rebreak and another break right after to win the second set 6-4. He was confronted with little resistance in the third set which he won 6-3. The next match against Russian Evgeny Korolev, was no real problem for Blake, who won in two sets, 7-5, 6-1, serving extremely well (16 aces during the match) and not facing a single break ball. “I’m seriously considering planting a grass court back home” he stated afterwards. In the Quarterfinals everything changed. Facing the German Phillipp Kohlschreiber, who was in great shape and also had the audience on his side, it seemed as if Blake didn’t find his rhythm. At the beginning of the first set he served pretty big but apart from that did not hit any ball properly; there were especially serious problems with his returns. Finally at 5-4 he also lost his serve, double faulting twice in a row and giving away the set to Kohlschreiber. With lots of false calls on his side and a slippery court due to a delayed closing of the roof which heavily disturbed him and led to a discussion with umpire Carlos Bernardos after the first set, there was no chance for him to come back in the second set. His serves became worse leading to break balls for Kohlschreiber in the third, fifth and seventh game. He missed the first ones but then finally broke Blake in the seventh game, winning the set 6-3. At the press conference after the game, Blake initially seemed to be very angry. Not about Kohlschreiber, who “played a great game and deserved the victory” but about himself and the circumstances. “A lot of things didn’t work for me today. He gave me the chance to beat myself and I did so.” But after a few minutes he calmed down and was already looking forward to Wimbledon. “Today I’m angry, but tomorrow I will fly to London and everything will be ok. I will try to gain much confidence from a week’s practice and be prepared for Wimbledon”. More information at www.gerryweber-open.de
Click Here for our Photo Gallery
