LONDON – Tomas Berdych won a fifth-set shootout over Czech compatriot Jiri Vesely for a 4-6 6-3 7-6(8) 6-7(9) 6-3 victory on Tuesday, completing the Wimbledon men’s quarter-final lineup after their match was suspended overnight in fading light.
They had left the contest level when the umpire called time, much to the frustration of 10th seed Berdych, who has suffered a string of delays at the tournament and tried to get the match moved to Centre Court to be finished under the floodlit roof.
A pumped-up Vesely, 22, had the momentum on Monday, snatching a 71 minute fourth set on a tiebreak to force the decider. But it was 2010 finalist Berdych, 30, who seized the initiative in the fifth, breaking Vesely’s first service game.
Berdych will play 22-year-old Frenchman Lucas Pouille, seeded 32, in the last eight.(Reuters)
