Robin Soderling and Tomas Berdych start title quests
Top seeded Swede Robin Soderling started his quest for a sixth ATP World Tour trophy with a 6-0, 6-1 win over his French tennis foe, Edouard Roger Vasselin, on Thursday at the Malaysian Open tennis tournament in Kuala Lumpur.
Robin maintained his record of winning against players ranked outside top hundred since the Australian Open earlier this year during the month of January, by blasting a total of four aces against the world number 106 Vasselin.
He lost eleven points on serve to make his way into the tenth ATP World Tour quarter final in 2010. The Swede enjoys a match record of 43-15 in the year, which also includes a straight set French Open title battle run at Roland Garros where he was eventually
defeated by the world number one Rafael Nadal.
Robin will next play the eighth seed Andrev Golubev, who got the better of his South African tennis opponent Kevin Anderson in a total of two sets on Thursday. The final match score was 6-4, 7-6(4). The match concluded in
a time period of one hour and forty one minutes in Kuala Lumpur.
It was Andrev’s 20th victory of the year, highlighted by his first ATP World Tour trophy at the German Open tennis tournament in Hamburg.
“The first round in any tournament is always difficult. I am very happy with the performance. My next match is with Golubev. He is a tough opponent and has had a very good year. I watched his match earlier and he was very
aggressive,” said Soderling after his victory on Thursday.
Tomas Berdych from the Czech Republic, who is currently ranked number six in the world by the Association of tennis professionals, also progressed to the final eight. The grass court Grand Slam finalist and third seed registered
his second victory this season over Denis Istomin from Uzbekistan in a total of two sets. The final match score was 6-4, 6-3. The clash concluded in a time period of eighty three minutes in Kuala Lumpur.
Tomas, who defeated Denis in the third round of Wimbledon back in June, won seventy two percent of service points and smashed a total of seven aces. He improved to a year record of 42-18. Pilot Pen tennis runner up Denis
dropped to a 0-5 career total versus the top ten foes.
"It was not an easy match, but these days no one is easy. The last time we met it was five sets at Wimbledon, but I found my rhythm very quickly and played well. David is having a good season and I will try to do the same
as I did today, playing my way,” said Tomas.
Tags: