STOCKHOLM — Defending champion Tomas Berdych advanced to the Stockholm Open final after his opponent Marcos Baghdatis was forced to withdraw from their semi-final due to injury trailing by a set.
"It's not the way you want to finish the match," the 30-year-old Berdych told Swedish TV after Baghdatis had left the court, adding that the Cypriot had told him it was a recurrence of a long-standing injury.
The Czech top seed powered through the first set in 26 minutes, his strong serving and hard accurate baseline strokes regularly wrong-footing 2009 winner Baghdatis.
Looking sluggish after his hard-fought quarter-final win over Gilles Simon on Friday, there was little to suggest that Baghdatis was capable of a comeback before he informed the umpire and his opponent that he was unable to continue.