Robin Soderling defeats Santiago Giraldo; cruises into the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open
Fifth seeded Swede Robin Soderling dumped former top fifty player, Colombian Santiago Giraldo in straight sets on Wednesday. He registered a 6-3, 6-3 victory over the 23-year-old Colombian to advance into the third round of the
2011 Mutua Madrid Open, a clay court tournament held in Spain.
Ranked 5th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Soderling is in top notch form this season as he won titles at Brisbane, Rotterdam and Marseille. However, after that injuries led his form down and he
exited from early rounds in the proceeding tournaments he entered.
Facing each other for the first time at Park Manzanares, Soderling triumphed over the Colombian in eighty minutes and took the lead in their head-to-head series by 1-0.
26-year-old displayed exceptional skills in the opening set as he smacked three hammers and produced a higher first serve share of 61 percent as compared to Giraldo’s 53 percent. He also registered an amazing 76 percent win on
it. Although Soderling lost his serve once, he broke the Colombian’s serve twice to clinch the set with a convincing 6-3 win.
He carried his winning ways into the second set and held his serve in the first game plausibly. Despite clobbering two double faults and equal first serve share, Soderling earned a fascinating 92 percent win on it. He also slammed
six aces and saved the only breakpoint faced. The Swede held his entire serves smoothly and converted two out of six breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to seal the seat with a 6-3 score line.
Up next for the Swede is the French Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who defeated Spanish qualifier Pere Riba in straight sets to reach this spot.
In the remaining matches of that day, all the seeds advanced into the third round except for eight seed Jurgen Melzer lost to Spanish qualifier Daniel Gimeno-Traver in straight sets.
Top seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal slew Cyprian Marcos Baghdatis with a breadstick. Second seeded Serb Novak Djokovic overpower South African Kevin Anderson in straight sets. Third seeded Swiss Roger Federer rallied past Spaniard
Feliciano Lopez in a hattrick of tie-breakers. Fourth seeded British Andy Murray survived against French Gilles Simon in a three set thriller. Seventh seeded Czech Tomas Berdych destroyed Spaniard Marcel Granollers with a bagel.
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