World Tour Finals round-robin preview and pick: Wawrinka vs. Berdych

Stan Wawrinka and Tomas Berdych will kick off their 2014 World Tour Finals campaigns on Monday. Wawrinka is hoping to emerge from a recent slump and join fellow Swiss Roger Federer with a 1-0 record.

The year-end championship in London will continue on Monday afternoon, when Stan Wawrinka and Tomas Berdych square off for the 15th time in their careers. Wawrinka leads the head-to-head series 9-5 after winning their only previous 2014 encounter 6-3, 6-7(1), 7-6(3), 7-6(4) in the semifinals of the Australian Open.

That victory, of course, propelled Wawrinka to his first career Grand Slam triumph in Melbourne. The fourth-ranked Swiss maintained relative consistency thereafter, but he has been a consistent disaster this fall. In fact, Wawrinka has won just a single tournament match since the U.S. Open, with an overall fall record of 2-4 (he also helped Switzerland book a spot in this month’s Davis Cup final).

Berdych is 54-20 for the year, which includes two titles–both on indoor hard courts–in Rotterdam and Stockholm. The seventh-ranked Czech’s recent victory in Stockholm was preceded by a quarterfinal performance in Shanghai and followed by a semifinal run in Paris.

These two competitors have faced each other once before at the World Tour Finals, with Wawrinka surviving 6-3, 6-7(0), 6-3 during round-robin action. This is only the No. 3 seed’s second qualification for London, having punched a semifinal ticket last season. Berdych is making his fifth appearance and owns a 5-8 lifetime record.

Based on Berdych’s indoor success in 2014 and his clear edge in current form, the lower-ranked player and lower seed actually has to be the favorite in this one.

Pick: Berdych in 3

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