The 10th-ranked Berdych earned a win in the open’s round of 128 stage after an injured Luca Vanni conceded the match. He didn’t need him to be hurt to win, though, as he easily won the first set, 6-1.
Against Ryan Harrison, he should have no problems advancing as well. The two recently met in last year’s Canadian Masters (Round of 16), where Berdych came out on top after a good, hard-fought 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-4 victory.
The Czech doesn’t have eye-popping numbers when it comes to playing in a hard surface (372-194, 65.7 win percentage), but 10 of his 13 career titles were on such environment, which really says a lot about how well he can raise his game when he’s on that type of court (sleeper pick alert!).
Expect Berdych to also showcase his power (6,470 aces, 12th all-time).
Further, his career W-L card in the Australian Open is 38-13. It’s his most number of wins and highest winning percentage (74.5 percent) in any Grand Slam tournament.
The 82nd-ranked Harrison, who moved seven places from his previous spot, convincingly beat number 41 Nicolas Mahut in the previous round, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
In his last tournament (ASB Classic), he raced through the round of 16 stage, winning in two sets in three straight games, before getting bounced by the 20th-ranked Jack Sock, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-1.
With a hard surface all-time record of 57-76 (42.9 percent) and an all-time Australian Open record of 1-6, his chances of overcoming the odds against Berdych are slim.
In the same tournament one year ago, he got easily booted out by number 45 Andrey Kuznetsov – a player who can be pretty competitive but clearly not in Berdych’s league – in the opening rounds, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.
