When Tomas Berdych is on, no one hits a cleaner, more powerful ball.  If there was one reason Berdych gives Murray trouble but Roddick doesn’t, it’s because of Berdych’s easy power that allows him to hit corners with ease and pace.

Murray didn’t look anywhere near the same form he had against Roddick, most likely because of Berdych’s pace.  He was struggling on serve.  He was struggling hitting to the lines.  And on top of that, Berdych did something few players do against Murray and that is attack his second serve, and this left Murray scrambling to retrieve shots throughout the match.

Both players did an amazing job of fighting off break points.  Murray seemed to start every game in the first set break points down, even being down triple break point, but avoided getting broken.  If Murray hides his second serve weakness, it’s because he fights off break points as well as anyone.

Murray secured a break and held on to a 6-4 first set.  The second set went to a tiebreak were Berdych got two mini-breaks, then gave them both back, before taking another mini-break against Murray and the second set, 7-6.

The third set started with Murray again having chances to break, but was unable to do so.  Indeed, Murray was 2 for 17 in break chances and will likely be kicking himself for not taking advantage of break opportunities although give credit to Berdych for coming up with big shots in tough moments.  Murray played a very sloppy game to give Berdych a break.  With Berdych serving for the match, he got up 40-30, but Murray came back and got to break point.  It was all for naught as Berdych finally played a few aggressive points and the Murray attacked a return just a little wide to lose 46, 76, 64.

In the end, Murray’s inability to hit the big shots like he did against Roddick did him in.  Berdych generally kept the pressure on, but Murray, for his part, was able to play some reasonable defense, running lots of shots down.

After last week’s win in Basel, Federer cut into Murray’s lead.  Murray has about a 1500 point lead.  With this quarterfinal loss, Murray now has about a 1700 point lead.  If Federer wins Paris, he’ll get 1000 points, but Berdych is a player that has given Federer trouble and he still has to get by Monaco, though Federer is expected to win that match.