Berdych And Nadal Gear Up For 22nd Meeting

Tomas Berdych`s match against Rafael Nadal in the quarter-final of the Australian Open tomorrow (11:00) will be the 22nd meeting of the two men on-court. The pair`s record currently stands at 18-3 to Nadal with the Spaniard undefeated in the last 17 encounters between them.

All of Berdych`s wins came on hard though this last victory came in the Madrid Masters of 2006. Indeed, Nadal still bosses the Czech player in this regard having won a superior 11 matches on hard court surfaces.

This clash is a repeat of the 2012 Grand Slam quarter-final down under that saw Nadal having to come from a set down to progress through to the semi-final. Having lost the first set 7-6, the Spaniard was in danger of going two down as the second set also had to be decided by a tie-break. Nadal was successful in his securing of this set and took the match 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 in two hours and ten minutes.

Nadal would go on to reach the final of the tournament, where he would play-out the longest Grand Slam final round in history, eventually succumbing to Novak Djokovic 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 in six hours and 53 minutes.

Ranked third and seventh in the world, Nadal and Berdych last met in the quarter-finals of last year`s Madrid Open, the former getting the better of his opponent in 88 minutes on the way to retaining his crown. That was his sixth title on home soil.

As a result of this supremacy of the six foot one Spaniard, bet365 are offering odds of 4/7 on him making it 18 straight victories against his 29-year-old long time rival. Thirteen of Nadal`s victories have been earned in straight sets and so he is 5/2 with the same bookmaker to progress in a similar fashion. Seven-to-four with Bet265 says that it will be Berdych who will progress through to his second successive Australian Open semi-final. In the final eight last year he lost out to Stanislas Wawrinka in a close fought encounter over four sets, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 7-6.

Six foot five Berdych has only ever managed to take Nadal down in straight sets once and so he is 21/4 with Stan James to win three sets to one, or 6/1 with bet365 and a cluster of other bookies to record a three set to two victory.

Having said this, however, the one-time former Wimbledon finalist is yet to drop a set at the tournament this year having seen off the likes of Alejandro Falla, Jurgen Melzer, Viiktor Troicki and Bernard Tomic with relative ease. A straight sets victory to the outsider then is 13/2 (betfair, Betvictor, ladbrokes).

In opposition, it took Nadal five sets and a total of 51 games to see off the wily American Tim Smyczek. Odds of 5/1 are available from bet365 on the 28-year-old going the distance again whilst the same bookmaker had laid down odds of 11/10 on their over 42 games played. Despite this marathon session with Smyczek, Nadal has, on average played only 32.5 games per tie. Betting on there being under 37 games tomorrow will see you receive odds of 5/4 (bet365).

He has also previously seen off Mikhail Youzhny (6-3, 6-2, 6-2) in round one, Dudi Sela (6-1, 6-0, 7-5) in the third stage and Kevin Anderson in the fourth round (7-5, 6-1, 6-4).

Only in Nadal`s match-up with Israeli Dudi Sela has either player managed to record a bagel victory in this competition whilst the two men have played four set tie-breakers. Two-to-five with bet365 says that there will be a tie-break in tomorrow`s clash whilst it`s 1/50 on the betfair Exchange should you think that there will be a 6-0 set victor.

Go To bet365

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26/01/2015     © Frixo 2024