Novak Djokovic edges out Tomas Berdych

Win: Novak Djokovic was stretched to the limit by Tomas Berdych
13 April 2012

World number one Novak Djokovic pulled off one of the more unlikely victories of his sensational year in his opening match against Tomas Berdych at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London tlast night.

The Serb, whose fitness had been in doubt prior to the tournament, lost the first four games, and subsequently the set, and then fought back from a break down in the decider, saving a match point before winning a tie-break to triumph 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7/3).

Djokovic said: "All the credit to his game, it was an incredible match, throughout most of the match he was the better player. I was hanging in there and I managed to get the win in the end."

The 24-year-old's incredible year began to catch up with him after his US Open final win over Rafael Nadal in September.

A back injury sustained during a Davis Cup clash with Juan Martin Del Potro forced him to miss the Asian swing while he came into the tournament nursing a shoulder problem that forced him out of the Paris Masters two weeks ago.

In contrast, Berdych, making his second consecutive appearance at the O2 Arena, has been in fine fettle and reached the semi-finals in Paris after a stunning win over Andy Murray.

The Czech was therefore backed by many to give Djokovic a tough night but even the man himself would surely have been shocked to find himself 4-0 up.

The world number one did not help himself by double-faulting on his first service point but mostly he was just being outhit.

Djokovic has not won 10 titles this year by letting his head go down, though, and the precision of his shots began to tempt Berdych into going for too much.

The Serb almost pulled back both breaks in succession but he could not take advantage of three chances to make it 3-4, and Berdych made no mistake in serving out the set, taking it with a searing backhand down the line.

Djokovic's only loss in eight previous meetings with his 26-year-old opponent came in the Wimbledon semi-finals last year, and he set about making sure that would not be followed by another here with a break at the start of the second set.

The Serb had cut his error count right down and, although Berdych applied plenty of pressure, it was a deficit he could not make up.

Djokovic was now a firm favourite to take the decider but it was the world number one who found himself facing the first break points when a thumping Berdych forehand took him to 15-40 in the sixth game, and another clean winner made it 4-2.

The seventh seed was now within touching distance of a notable win but his nerve wobbled and he threw in two double-faults in a poor game to hand his advantage straight back.

Still Djokovic lived dangerously, surviving a tight game serving to stay in the match at 4-5, and he did not seem to know whether to praise or curse Berdych as the winners kept coming.

In the 12th game the Czech had his first match point courtesy of a very untimely Djokovic double-fault but netted a makeable forehand.

This time Berdych's chance had gone. He made a poor start to the tie-break, summed up by the simple forehand putaway he someone drove long, and could not recover, Djokovic taking his first match point when his opponent netted a backhand return.

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