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Soderling survives early scare to win in Rotterdam
ESPN staff
February 8, 2010
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Robin Soderling made hard work of defeating Florent Serra
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Robin Soderling survived an early scare to defeat Florent Serra 4-6 6-4 6-1 in the first round of the ABN AMRO Tournament in Rotterdam.
The third seed was initially shocked by a ruthless performance from Serra, who took advantage of his only break point of the first set and saved two on his own serve.
Serra, the world No. 60, traded blows with his Swedish opponent in the second before yielding to pressure in the tenth game, surrendering the set by losing his serve.
Soderling was energised by that late break, racing through the third set with 79% first serve accuracy and two games won on the Serra serve.
Fifth seed Tommy Robredo defeated home favourite Robin Haase 7-6(4) 6-4 to progress in the tournament. Neither found top form in a tight first set, in which Robredo's class told in the tie-break as he restricted his opponent to four points.
The Spaniard carried the momentum from the tie-break into the second set, breaking his opponent in the first game. That was to prove the defining moment, as Robredo cruised to victory subsequently by holding serve.
Janko Tipsarevic failed with numerous break points
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Florian Mayer claimed a surprise victory over Janko Tipsarevic as the big-serving German triumphed 6-3 6-7(6) 7-6(8). Mayer produced 12 aces as he continued the impressive form that has seen him claim a 100% record for the year. This fluent play was most in evidence in the first set, which he sealed with one break.
The 26-year-old seemed to have produced the perfect riposte to losing the second when he raced into a 3-0 lead in the third, but Tipsarevic launched a comeback to force a tie-break. The Serbian was unable to take his chances, however, which was a feature of the match - he took only one of ten break points. Mayer, the world No. 63, now moves into the last 16.
Italian Andreas Seppi also progressed with a routine 6-1 7-5 victory over Stephane Bohli, whose inaccurate serving - just 55% of his first attempts were valid - allowed his opponent to secure six breaks in the match. Igor Sijsling goes through after beating Mischa Zverev 6-7(2) 6-3 7-5.
In the San Jose Open, Jarkko Nieminen recovered from losing the first set to defeat Lars Poerschke 3-6 6-3 6-2. Recording a laudable first serve percentage of 77%, the left-handed Finn overpowered the player ranked over 200 places below him. Elsewhere, Dudi Sela overcame Santiago Giraldo 7-6(2) 7-6(4), Thomas Berdych beat Wayne Odesnik 6-1 6-7 7-5 and Taylor Dent saw off Alex Bogomolov 6-4 7-6.
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