TENNIS in DEPTH.

The top-seeded Czech broke for a 5-3 lead in the final set on a double fault from Monfils, clinching victory with his 12th ace. “It was very close in the end. I’m happy that I was able to do it,” Berdych told Canal Plus television. “Actually, it’s even more special to beat the home player, unfortunately for the crowd.” Berdych relied on a strong serve and deep groundstrokes to go a set up but made several unforced errors to drop the second set. “Tomas had a great match,” Monfils said. “He got off to a good start, so I had less maneuvering room. I tried my best. I tried to return better, I tried to play with a bit more aggression too.”

The 2010 Wimbledon finalist broke Monfils for a 2-0 lead when the Frenchman sent a backhand long. Berdych then saved three break points to hold serve before hitting two consecutive return winners to take the first set. In the second set, Berdych double-faulted to give Monfils a break chance that the Frenchman converted for a 3-2 lead when the Czech’s backhand volley sailed long. Monfils erased three break points at 4-3 and leveled at one set each on a forehand error from Berdych. Berdych had won their only previous meeting four years ago in Dubai.

Bookmark It

The Czech Republic has won the Hyundai Hopman Cup for the second time with top seeds Petra Kvitova and Tomas Berdych going right through the week unbeaten in singles ending with the Final inside the Burswood Dome on Saturday against France’s Marion Bartoli and Richard Gasquet. World No. 2 Kvitova finished off her outstanding week and debut in Perth by beating world No. 9 Frenchwoman Bartoli 7-5, 6-1 in the women’s singles to give the Czechs a winning start and then the seventh ranked Berdych finished the job beating former world No. 7 Gasquet 7-6, 6-4. It is the Czech Republic’s second Hopman Cup title after Jana Novotna and Petr Korda won the sixth tournament in 1994 by beating Germany’s Anke Huber and Bernd Karbacher in the Final.

Now in the nation’s eighth appearance at the Hyundai Hopman Cup, Kvitova and Berdych have added their names to the list of champions and also made the Czech Republic just the sixth country to win the Cup at least twice along with the USA (six times), Slovak Republic (three), Spain (three), Switzerland (two) and Germany (two). It has been an outstanding week in Perth for the Czech pair who now both have every reason to have confidence of contending for the first Grand Slam of the year in Melbourne at the Australian Open. Kvitova is fresh off an amazing 2011 that included a Wimbledon crown, the Fed Cup and being the ITF World Champion and WTA Player of the Year, and now her 2012 has got off to an outstanding start. This week she has beaten defending American Hopman Cup champion Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova, world No. 1 from Denmark Caroline Wozniacki and then in the Final France’s Bartoli. ”It was a really good match (against Wozniacki) but today I played much better against Marion and it’s always tough to play with someone at the top,” Kvitova said. ”It’s really good to win at the beginning of the season and of course I have to say thank you to Tomas because without him we wouldn’t win. ”You played really unbelievable and it was an honour to play with you. And of course with our team, with them it’s always really fun. It’s really enjoyable in Perth and of course I have to say thank you to Hopman Cup.”

Berdych was playing for the Czech Republic at the Hopman Cup for the third time and also went through undefeated in his men’s singles matches with American Mardy Fish, Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, Denmark’s Frederik Nielsen and then France’s Gasquet in the Final. ”It couldn’t be better, it was an extremely great week and first of all I need to congratulate my partner. She won all she can and I just add some winnings again and now we can be standing here and have such a nice trophy so it was really good week,” Berdych said. ”I think it was possibly the best Final that could come of those two Groups and we are happy for that. We would like to congratulate them as well to get the Final and wish them both the best of luck for the rest of the season, for the Australian Open and all of the weeks. I think everybody enjoyed it, we had the best time on court and I hope the people liked it.”

France also had a tremendous week in Perth, though, as Bartoli and Gasquet got their nation into the Hopman Cup Final for the second time, but the French are still chasing that elusive first title. Bartoli might have lost tight encounters with Kvitova and world No. 5 Li Na, but did beat Australia’s Jarmila Gajdosova and Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues impressively. Gasquet has this week shown the form that saw him reach the world No. 7 ranking in 2007 by beating Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt, Spain’s Fernando Verdasco and China’s Wu Di.

The attendance for Hyundai Hopman Cup XXIV, which will be the last at Perth’s Burswood Dome before the tournament moves to the new Perth Arena, was 8365 to take the total for the week to an impressive 72,776.

Bookmark It

She is Ester Satorova, a hot fashion model from the Czech Republic. Ester was born in 1992 and she is 5 feet and 9 inches or 175 cm tall. She is a Blue eyed hottie with Light brown hair.Being a fashion model, the measurements are very important, and her (US) 33-23-35 ; (EU) 84-60-90 measures are ‘hot’!

Bookmark It

David Ferrer, who has already qualified for the semi-finals, is the only player not to lose a set this week and after overcoming negative head-to-heads against his first two opponents this week, Murray and Djokovic, he can come into this match with some extra confidence. The Spaniard is 5-2 lifetime against Berdych, winning their past four meetings (and winning both of their hard court meetings as well). This match will be the ultimate decider of who will become the last player to qualify for the semi-finals at the year-end finale:

1.  If Ferrer defeats Berdych, Djokovic will qualify.

2. If Berdych defeats Ferrer and Djokovic loses (vs. Tipsarevic), Berdych will qualify.

3. If Berdych defeats Ferrer and Djokovic defeats Tipsarevic, Berdych will qualify unless Djokovic won his match in straight sets and Berdych was pushed to three sets before winning (in which case Djokovic qualifies).

Ferrer’s 63 61 win over Djokovic on Wednesday not only qualified him for the semi-finals, it was the equal-most lopsided win over a No. 1 in 28 and a half years – in a completed match, and in terms of games lost (in March 1983, Ivan Lendl lost a match, 61 62 – since then, nine times have players lost only four games in beating a No. 1, Ferrer’s win over Djokovic being the ninth time since then it has happened).

Bookmark It

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. 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.

Bookmark It

Andy Murray’s 17-match winning run came to an end in the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters on Friday, as Tomas Berdych came from behind to secure a thrilling win over the world number three. With Murray’s form so imperious going into the match – he had won his last three tournaments and overtaken Roger Federer in the rankings – it was expected he would routinely secure a last-four berth when he won the first set. But Berdych, who now has a 3-1 record over the Scot, dug deep and raised his game to a new level in the next two thrilling sets, often forcing Murray to lose his temper as he won 4-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-4.

Murray engaged in a heated debate with the umpire midway through the final set, his anger no doubt increased by the amount of chances he passed up during the three-hour 12-minute tussle. Speaking after the match, Murray was already looking ahead to the season-ending World Tour Finals in London later this month where the duo could meet again.

Bookmark It

All three players earned their spots for the tournament in London after Berdych beat Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 7-5, 6-4 Thursday in the third round of the Paris Masters. Tipsarevic needed to win the title in Paris to qualify for the season-ending event, which starts on Nov. 20.

Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and David Ferrer have already qualified for the tournament for the top eight players in the world.

Bookmark It

With three spots still up for grabs in the chase to the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, the fate of several players’ year-end championships hopes will come down to their performances this week. No. 6 Tomas Berdych, No. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and No. 8 Mardy Fish all control their own destiny – reach the final and they’re guaranteed a berth to London. Nicolas Almagro (9th) and Janko Tipsarevic (11th) each need to make the final to have a shot at qualifying. Frenchmen Gilles Simon (12th) and Gael Monfils (14th) have to win the title to keep their hopes alive.

Bookmark It