Robin Soderling cruises past Thomaz Bellucci at Wimbledon
Robin Soderling has cruised past Thomaz Bellucci in their third round match at Wimbledon, as the Swede moves into the final 16 without dropping a set.
The dual French Open runner-up has now equalled his best performance at the All England Club, where he also reached the fourth round last year.
On the way to his 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 victory over Bellucci, Soderling served 15 aces and 26 winners as he consistently drilled the ball deep into the court.
“I’m serving well, and I’m hitting the ball really well here today...My confidence is good, and I think that is a really important thing in this sport,” Soderling told the BBC as he stepped off the court.
It was indeed a largely composed performance, even if the world No. 6 tightened up in the dying stages of the third set. Eleven games into it, Bellucci found himself with three a break point opportunities against Soderling’s hitherto impenetrable serve, but all of them went begging when the Brazilian made three unforced errors to let Soderling off the hook.
Any nerves Soderling had been experiencing seemed to dissipate at the change of ends as he brought up triple match point against the 25th seed’s serve, sealing it when Bellucci sent the ball sailing over the baseline on the second of them.
The win leaves Soderling on course for a quarter-final match against French Open champion Rafael Nadal.
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