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After four hours of rain finally came sunshine, and a quick passage into the third round for former finalist Tomas Berdych.
The Czech No.10 seed overpowered Germany’s Benjamin Becker 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 in a near-flawless performance on No.3 Court as he fired off a whopping 43 winners.
“It was very good today,” Berdych said. "I was controlling the game from almost the first points of the match and then able to dictate the game. Played the way that I want to. So really there was a lot of positives from today.”
Berdych will next play the winner of the match between talented German teenager Alexander Zverev and Russian Mikhail Youzhny after their encounter was stopped for rain at 2-1 on serve in the fifth set.
Although Berdych has been a member of the top 10 since he reached the Wimbledon final in 2010 and even rose to a career-best No.4 last year, his results this season have been mixed.
Armed with one of the biggest serves in the men’s game, Berdych has perhaps been unlucky to be competing in an era with some of the game’s greatest players. Possibly the best player never to have won a Grand Slam, at 30 his time may be running out.
Although the Czech reached the quarter-finals at both the Australian Open and Roland Garros in 2016, he’s had a few tough losses in the spring, such as a humiliating 6-0, 6-0 drubbing by Belgium’s David Goffin in Rome in May.
A few days after that match, Berdych announced he was splitting up with coach Dani Vallverdu, the former hitting partner of Andy Murray.
“My results lately have not been what I expected,” Berdych said at the time on Twitter. “As I am not a tennis player at the beginning of his career I have to act quickly when I feel that I need a change.”
Ironically, while Berdych was winning on No.3 Court, Vallverdu sat in the box on Centre Court to watch his new protégé, former US Open winner Juan Martin Del Potro, upset Stan Wawrinka.
The match was a proper contest really only in the first half of the first set, when Berdych saved two break points at 4-4. Serving at 5-4 down, Becker handed his opponent the set on an error.
Becker, no relation to three-time winner Boris, is perhaps best known for ending the career of his idol Andre Agassi in the third round of the 2006 US Open. Married with two young children, Becker played college tennis for three years at Baylor University in Texas before turning pro when he was 24.
He often credits his relatively late start as a pro with his longevity on the men’s tour at the age of 35. He struggled against the big-hitting Berdych, particularly on serve as he got broken five times.
Playing as if he had a West End show to catch, it was all Berdych thereafter taking the second set in 24 minutes with 15 winners. An early break in the third set sealed Becker’s fate, as Berdych easily served out the match with a backhand winner.
It was a long day for both men, who had been ushered off the court at 11:15am when their warmup was interrupted by a persistent drizzle.
“Just trying to find some quiet place, which is a big challenge in these conditions,” Berdych said, when asked what did during the four-hour delay. “I have to say that it's very good here. So you can really find your spot.
“Also, the experience helps in these situations a lot,” he added.
