Wimbledon: No. 12 Tomas Berdych Struggles, But Beats Denis Istomin In Five Sets

No. 12 Tomas Berdych defeated Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin 6-7(1), 7-6(5), 6-7(8),6-3, 6-4 in a third round match that was far more competitive than most anyone expected.

Despite some nervous moments late in sets that evoked the choking Berdych of old, it was a generally fairly solid win for the current Czech No. 1.

Berdych is a long underachieving talent who made his first grand slam semifinal earlier this month in Paris, losing there to Robin Soderling in five sets. His path to what would be a second career Wimbledon quarterfinal looks pretty good now, as he meets the winner of No. 31 Victor Hanescu and Daniel Brands in the fourth round.

With the way he serves and his clean, effortless groundstrokes, Berdych should definitely be given a huge chance to upset Roger Federer if the two meet in the quarterfinals as expected.