Former champion Tomas Berdych is in second round action against Fernando Verdasco on day two of the BNP Paribas Masters.
Berdych made his big breakthrough at this event way back in 2005, beating Juan Carlos Ferrero, Guillermo Coria, Gaston Gaudio and Ivan Ljubicic to claim one of the biggest titles of his career.
The Czech has not hit the same heights since in Paris-Bercy but with his huge game, he's always going to be dangerous on courts this fast. Currently lying sixth in the Race, Berdych is on the brink of making the Tour Finals for the second year in a row. There was a slight mix-up at the weekend when the ATP thought he'd already done enough interviewed him for his thoughts on making the cut for London to the amusement of all when the article was taken down a few hours later !
However it will be a big surprise if Berdych doesn't qualify even if he has slumped a little in the past few weeks, losing first round in Basel last week.
This is a tough opener for him against Verdasco who played superbly to defeat the in-form Marin Cilic 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. "It's the last tournament of the year, and I just want to finish the year in the best way as possible," Verdasco said afterwards. "[Since the Asian swing], I've been practising maybe two, two-and-a-half hours on court [each day]."
Berdych leads 8-4 on the head-to-head and he's already beaten Verdasco twice in 2011 - 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 at the Aussie Open and then 6-1, 6-0 in Beijing a few weeks ago.
Prediction: Berdych in straight sets.
