Stan Wawrinka had not exactly been playing great tennis this fall, but nothing seems to slow him down when he faces Tomas Berdych.
Wawrinka improved to 10-5 lifetime against Berdych and extended his winning streak in the head-to-head series to five by steamrolling 6-1, 6-1 in round-robin action at the World Tour Finals on Monday afternoon. The Swiss needed a mere 58 minutes to win his opening match in London.
This was one-way traffic right from the start. Wawrinka won 21 of the match’s first 26 points en route to a commanding 5-0 lead in the first set. Berdych saved a set point to finally get on the scoreboard for 1-5, but his opponent quickly served things out to 15 in the next game.
More of the same continued in the second, with Wawrinka dominating on serve and even having little trouble in return games. The world No. 4, who had just a single tournament match win this fall heading into the year-end championship, won all nine of his first-serve points in set two (and 21 of 22 overall). He wrapped up the proceedings in style with his fifth break of the day.
“I think I did play a really good match,” Wawrinka assured after being asked if the outcome was more based on his stellar level or Berdych’s poor play. “If he [played] good or bad, (it) doesn’t matter to me. I’m happy with my performance. I’m happy the way I was playing; returning, almost everything.”
Nothing, on the other hand, worked for Berdych. His forehand failed him when he tried to play first-strike tennis and could rarely get back into points when Wawrinka was dictating. In points that lasted no more than five shots, Berdych won just 19 compared to Wawrinka’s 40. The Czech made 20 unforced errors–13 off the forehand side.
“Unfortunately it was my worst match of the whole season,” Berdych admitted. “There are days like that. Now it’s over (and) it’s just a matter of trying to find a way for the next few days.”
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