ATP China Open 2010; Highlights from Thursday
World number five Robin Soderling battled hard to triumph in his match against Nicolas Almagro yesterday, to confirm his berth in the quarter final round of the 2010 ATP China Open Men’s Competition in Beijing. The final match
score was 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.
The twenty five year old Soderling started the week at number five in the quest to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, only seventy points behind the Brit number one Andy Murray, who is also through to the quarters.
The Swedish tennis ace, who successfully made his way into the final of the French Open for the second time in a row earlier in June, improved to a match record of 45-16 during the season, after getting the better of Almagro for the first time after three
attempts.
The third seed Soderling won the closed first set with a break of serve during the twelfth game. However, Nicolas, who had beaten Robin in the Bastad final two months ago, smashed back with a break of serve during the fifth game
of the second set to tie the clash. The Swede broke decisively, though, in the sixth game of the third set to seal a win in two hours on Thursday. In a big serving battle, Robin concluded with an ace tally of twenty two, four more than his opponent.
"I think both of us served quite well, particularly on all the important points. I think it was a good match, very small margins, but I was able to play really well to break him in the third set. I executed my game plan really
well, was serving well and stayed aggressive. Against him you have to do it, because he is hitting the ball really hard and plays quick,” declared Soderling after the match on Thursday.
Soderling, as a result of this win will next meet the eight seed David Ferrer of Spain in the quarter final round of the China Open. David registered his 50th victory in 2010 after brushing aside Yen Hsun Lu in three
sets on Thursday. The final match score was 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. The clash was stretched to a time period of two hours in Beijing. David is also in the race to qualify for the year ending ATP World Tour Barclays in London, and started the week at number nine in
the ATP rankings.
David, broke his serve on three occasions however did well to topple Lu in the end. Ferrer now will also be hoping to advance into his tenth ATP World Tour semi final in 2010. He currently enjoys a match record of 16-10 on the
hard courts.
In the doubles clash, the top seed duo of Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan reached the semi final round of the China Open on Thursday with a two setter win over Andy Ram and Johanthan Erlich of Israel. The final match score was 7-6(4),
6-2.
In a close first set versus the former Australian Open winner, the Bryan brothers squandered a break on two occasions before surviving in the ensuing tie-break. The decisive set was more comfortable for the American pair, with
service breaks during the second and eighth games taking them to win in just eighty five minutes in Beijing. The Bryans thus extended their ideal record at the China Open to 6-0. They won the title on their debut back in 2009 after surpassing Andy Roddick
and Mark Knowles.
In the next step of their effort for a tenth tour-level crown in 2010, the Bryans will meet Chinese Yen Hsun Lu and Florian Mayer of Germany, who dismissed Chinese wild card entrants Zhe Li and Mao Xin Gong in three sets. The final
match score was 3-6, 6-1, 12-10.
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