Ferrer to beat Berdych and avoid Federer semi-final collision
Published:The group stage of the 2011 ATP Tour World Finals will come to an exciting conclusion on Friday night when Tomas Berdych fights for a place in the semi-finals against in-form fifth seed David Ferrer.
The Spaniard has defeated Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic in straight sets to secure a spot in the final four whatever happens, and it is perhaps the fact that he has far less at stake than Berdych that sees him available to back at 4/5.
Ferrer isn’t lacking any incentive to win though because in addition to the huge cash prizes up for grabs for even round-robin triumphs, first place in Group A will save him from a Saturday showdown with Roger Federer.
By doing so, he will likely divert the Swiss superstar onto a collision course with Novak Djokovic who – were he to take out the favourite – Ferrer might fancy his chances against more in the final having already humbled the world number one this week.
Ferrer has prevailed in five of his seven career meetings with Berdych, including each of the last four – the latter two of which were their first clashes on hard courts.
The Czech player took a set in the most recent one in Kuala Lumpur last year to end a run of three successive straight-set losses, but if Ferrer takes the opener on Friday, it would only be natural for Berdych’s head to drop as elimination nears.
The 2/1 on Ferrer winning 2-0 to sign off without dropping a set, a feat that nobody else is capable of achieving and that Federer in 2009 was the only person to pull off in the previous five editions, is therefore rather appealing.
