Robin Soderling struggles to win against Lleyton Hewitt in 2nd round – Wimbledon Championships 2011
One of the most enthralling contest of this year’s Wimbledon Championships took place on Thursday afternoon, when the world number five, Robin Soderling of Sweden, defeated the former world number one, Lleyton Hewitt of Australia
in the second round clash after a stiff contest.
The three hour and fifty four minute match featured grass-court tennis at its best, with the two of the top class men competing for survival in the Grand Slam tournament. Soderling exhibited his tremendous courage and mental steel
to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, settling the final scores at 6-7(5), 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4, to move into the third round of Wimbledon Championships.
Being played at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, England, the contest was heading for a major tournament upset when the fifth seed dropped the opening two sets in the game. Soderling has never
recovered from a deficit of two sets before but the Swede held his nerve to get through the intense pressure situations of the competition this time round.
Soderling has suffered three defeats at the hands of Hewitt in the past and his Thursday’s victory improved his head-to-head record against the Aussie by 2-3. The Swede was two sets down and was going through a terrible slump before
he finally regrouped to reel off the later three sets en route to victory.
“I didnt want to go off the court feeling that I didn't give a hundred per cent. Win or lose, doesn’t matter,” Soderling told the press reporters after winning the memorable fight against Hewitt, “I tried not to think about the
scoreline. Instead, I tried to keep looking forward. I know I was playing pretty well. I served well. And if I could just start to move a little bit better, start to return a little bit better than the first two sets, I knew I had a good chance.”
The fifth seed hung in the opening set before submitting it to the belligerent Aussie, who went on to race through the second set as well to get 2-0 in the competition. Soderling finally got his eye in the game to win the next
two sets and brought the match on even terms before he rallied from 1-2 in the decider to reach match triple match point at 5-4.
Soderling closed out the contest at 6-4 when Hewitt thumped a forehand into the net, letting the Swede through to the third round of Wimbledon. He will face either Igor Andreev of Russia or the qustralian qualifier, Bernard Tomic,
in the third round draws.
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