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After two defeats at Wimbledon, Tomic wants to get even at home

Both are doing well so far, with great serves. The serve should be important in the intense match between Berdych and Tomic. Neither of them lost a single service game in the third round

After being compared to Wawrinka and Čilić a lot last year, Tomas Berdych decided to change something. He fired his long-time coach, and hired a new team, starting a new phase of his career last summer. Positive changes were there right away, and his game in Doha was fantastic, but still, in his first real final, he was defeated by Ferrer.

Despite that, it was a good preparation for the Australian Open where he'll have to defend the semifinals. He's playing this tournament well so far, with three wins in three sets. But, it still seems like he didn't have a real challenge. After two wins against the left-handed Falla and Melzer, it seemed that Troicki might be a challenge because he had ten wins behind him. That series of ten wins turned out to be a handicap because fatigue did its job.

Still, what was more memorable from that duel was the Czech's game. He proved to be a "penicillin" for Troicki once again - in their last five duels, Berdych defeated him without losing a set. It was intense until 4-4 in the first set when Berdych put to a higher gear and ran towards the win. He had 89% first serve points, 20 aces, and didn't allow a single break-chance.

- I think I played a great match today, and my serve was especially great. If you want to stay long at this tournament, you have to add something in each round, and I think I did in this one - Berdych commented on his win in the third round, and then commented on his next opponent:

- I faced Tomic twice at Wimbledon, and those were very tough matches. He's a good player for sure, and all of the audience will stand behind him here. 

As Berdych mentioned, he and Tomic played twice at Wimbledon, and the Czech won both times in four sets. The last duel, last year, was when Tomic was coming back after an injury. He showed his virtues on the grass then, but still couldn't solve Berdych. It's pretty different here because his game gets even better with the support from the audience.

He won the last three matches, and lost two sets in those, but it seems that things turned around when he managed to win the set he was losing against Kohlschreiber. He played tough, showed mental maturity, something he did again in the third round where he faced another Australian, Groth. Groth is playing his best tennis at the moment, but a Grand Slam third round was too big of a bite for him.

We saw a duel of serves, as expected, where Tomic dominated both because of his experience and his quality. He also managed to get two breaks, while Groth didn't get a single chance to do the same. Tomic ended the match with 73% first serve where he got 83% points, and Groth had his chance, too. It was the second set tiebreak where he had a mini break a few times, and even a set-ball with the serve. He couldn't take advantage of that, and Tomic had a clever approach that helped him reduce his errors to a minimum, and get to the round of 16 for the second time in his career. He totally deserved it.

- A tough match and a tough opponent. But I knew what to expect, and I think I got prepared well. The key moment was in the second set where luck served me, too. I felt well through the whole match - Tomic said after the match.

He did what he was supposed to do here, especially with this win because by eliminating Kohlschreiber opened up the lot. Still, he's in a superior position here, which might actually be good for him. Both Berdych and Tomic showed a good tennis here, both serve great, and this should be an intense duel.

These two played Wimbledon twice so far, and this margin was easily broken in four sets. That was in the previous two years when Tomic played both bad and good, but was a tough opponent for Berdych. I'm convinced he'll be that again, because he's playing great this season, especially at this tournament. After the warmup against Kamke, he eliminated two dangerous players (Kohlschreiber, Groth), and that definitely boosted his self-confidence. His serve is great and he had 60% of the first in every match so far, with 80% points. Berdych's got similar numbers, but I don't expect them to change for either of these two. Berdych passed three rounds without losing a set, and he is a favorite here, but I definitely don't think this will be easy for him.