Robin Soderling defeats Leonardo Mayer; makes it into the fourth round – French Open 2011
World number four and top Swede Soderling advanced into the fourth round at the 2011 Roland Garros in Paris, France on Saturday, May 28th after securing a straight sets victory against Argentine qualifier Leonardo Mayer.
The Swede took a little close to two hours to secure a 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 victory against Mayer.
This was the pair’s first meeting ever on tour. Soderling had made it into the third round after defeating Spaniard qualifier Albert Ramos while Mayer has upset 27th seed, Marcos Baghdatis to make it this far.
Getting off to a strong start, Soderling broke Mayer in the very first game. Continuing to assault the Argentine in the opener, Soderling broke him one after the other to clinch a 5-0. After a successful hold of serves from both players, the Swede was able to go one up in the set score as he clinched a breadstick win.
Taking only twenty nine minutes, Soderling won a total of 29 of 46 points, 69% on his first serve. He hit ten winners in the opener to rush into the lead.
However, resistance from the Argentine slowed down the pace of the match as the score in the second set ticked on even terms. Matching blow for blow, Mayer kept the score tied for eight games. An expensive double fault in the tenth game cost Mayer his service as he handed over the second set 6-4 to the Swede.
Maintaining his dominance over the inexperienced and lower ranked opponent, Soderling consolidated on a mini break in the second game to lead the game score 3-0. Another break later, Soderling extended his lead to 5-0. However, fighting back hard Mayer reduced the deficit to 3-5. A well placed winner down the line at 40-0 in the ninth game, gave Soderling a 6-3 victory in the third set sealing his straight sets victory.
A two-time finalist here (2009 and 2010); Soderling hopes to go one step further this time around. His next opponent in the title race will be the 18th seeded Frenchman, Gilles Simon. Simon enjoyed a straight set victory against 10th seeded Mardy Fish in the third round.
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