Soderling narrowly advances in US Open
Swedish world no. 5 Robin Soderling struggled to defeat Austrian player Andreas Haider-Maurer in the first round of the US Open on Monday.
The Austrian put in a strong performance to win a tie break in the third set and win the fourth set to force a decider.
After losing four match points and playing for over four hours, Soderling finally managed to win the fifth set 7-5 in the sweltering heat.
Soderling now faces either Taylor Dent or Alejandro Falla in the second round of the tournament.
Impressive performance by Haider-Mauer
Haider-Maurer, currently ranked as world no. 215 in the men's singles category, opened the game in stunning fashion and broke Soderling's serve in the first set, during which he went up to a 4-1 lead.
Soderling recovered to win the first set 7-5, and looked certain to claim a three-set victory after winning the second 6-3.
But in the tenth game of the third set, Soderling invited Haider-Maurer back into the match by failing to convert three match points.
First, the Swede failed to convert a conventional forehand shot, while the second point was lost to a strong serve by his opponent.
For the third match point, Soderling returned yet another strong serve, but Haider-Mauer sent a fierce, spinning shot down the baseline to hold the Swede.
The Austrian's serve was too much to handle for Soderling in the tie break, which Haider-Maurer won 7-2. The 22-year-old prospect claimed a total of 34 aces during the match, with Soderling managing only nine.
The Swede, who was knocked out in the quarter finals of last year's tournament, noted 73 unforced errors during the match, showing an uncharacteristic lack of focus.
Trailing 5-6 in the fourth set, Soderling's first serve began to fail him, and things looked grim for the fifth seed when Haider-Maurer's set point rally ended with the Swede hitting the net from only two yards away.
Haider-Maurer had then forced a decider from a player who sits over 200 places above him in the men's singles ranking.
Soderling prevails in decider
But in the deciding set, the Austrian's energy seemed drained, and Soderling managed to avoid enough dreadful errors to get through.
The French open finalist of the last two years scraped by in the first round of the US Open. If Soderling wishes to progress further than the quarters this time around, he will need to regain his focus in time for the second round.
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