Second-seeded Swede Robin Soderling required just 58 minutes to reach the Barcelona Open BancSabadell quarter-finals Thursday, firing 11 aces past No. 16 seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain in a 6-3, 6-2 victory at the ATP World Tour 500 tennis tournament.
"I feel good," said last year's Roland Garros finalist. "Last year coming into the clay I didn’t play well so well in the beginning, but I think this year I’m playing much better already from the start. Hopefully I can build on this and play even better and better."
For the second time in as many weeks, third seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat No. 15 seed Nicolas Almagro of Spain. World No. 10 Tsonga, who also beat Almagro at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters nine days ago, converted four of six break points and hit eight aces for a 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 victory in just over two hours. He has a 17-7 match record on the season.
"I wasn't sliding well at the start, the clay was quite heavy," said Tsonga. "I was struggling to adjust myself to the ball. Then I started to play a bit more how I play on hard-court which enabled me to get back into the match in the second and third set."
Tsonga will next meet former junior World No. 1 Thiemo de Bakker, who is aiming to break into the Top 50 of the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings this season. De Bakker handed seventh seed and 2001 champion Juan Carlos Ferrero only his third loss in 21 clay-court matches this year.
Ferrero dropped to 18-3 on red dirt this year after falling to de Bakker 7-6(2), 3-6, 7-6(4) in two hours and 35 minutes. Tsonga said: "It will be difficult against De Bakker next. I played him in Davis Cup on indoor clay. It was a tough match, very difficult. He's going to go up in the rankings in the next few months and has a lot of potential."
Just four days after finishing runner-up at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, fifth-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco survived a battle against No. 11 seed Jurgen Melzer of Austria for a spot in the last eight.
Verdasco recovered from a 0-2 deficit in the second set to win his fifth match in six meetings with Melzer 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-3 in two hours and 13 minutes. It was the 20th win of the year for the World No. 9, who will next challenge Latvian Ernests Gulbis, a 6-1, 6-3 victor over qualifier Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
"It was pretty difficult today with the conditions really heavy," said Verdasco. "It was tough for me to make the ball bounce and make winners also. It was hard conditions, but finally I had enough time to come back and win the match, so I’m happy."
Eighth seed David Ferrer safely advanced to his fifth ATP World Tour quarter-final (or better) this season at the ATP World Tour 500 clay-court tennis tournament. The Spaniard, a runner-up to Rafael Nadal the past couple of years, was leading Simone Bolelli 6-0, 3-0 when the Italian qualifier retired with a right wrist injury after 45 minutes of play.
World No. 17 Ferrer improved to 3-0 lifetime against Bolelli and to a 23-7 season record (17-2 on clay). He will next challenge No. 13 seed Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil, who knocked out Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 48 minutes.
Argentine Eduardo Schwank, a quarter-finalist at the Movistar Open and Copa Telmex in February, withstood 13 aces from the racquet of Ivan Navarro for a 6-3, 7-6(7) win in two hours and 12 minutes.
Thursday, 22 April 2010
Singles - Third Round
[2] R Soderling (SWE) d [16] F Lopez (ESP) 63 62
[3] J Tsonga (FRA) d [15] N Almagro (ESP) 57 61 64
[5] [WC] F Verdasco (ESP) d [11] J Melzer (AUT) 36 76(1) 63
T de Bakker (NED) d [7] J Ferrero (ESP) 76(2) 36 76(4)
[8] D Ferrer (ESP) d [Q] S Bolelli (ITA) 60 30 ret. (right wrist)
[13] T Bellucci (BRA) d G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) 64 64
E Gulbis (LAT) d [Q] A Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) 61 63
E Schwank (ARG) d [LL] I Navarro (ESP) 63 76(7)
"I feel good," said last year's Roland Garros finalist. "Last year coming into the clay I didn’t play well so well in the beginning, but I think this year I’m playing much better already from the start. Hopefully I can build on this and play even better and better."
For the second time in as many weeks, third seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat No. 15 seed Nicolas Almagro of Spain. World No. 10 Tsonga, who also beat Almagro at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters nine days ago, converted four of six break points and hit eight aces for a 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 victory in just over two hours. He has a 17-7 match record on the season.
"I wasn't sliding well at the start, the clay was quite heavy," said Tsonga. "I was struggling to adjust myself to the ball. Then I started to play a bit more how I play on hard-court which enabled me to get back into the match in the second and third set."
Tsonga will next meet former junior World No. 1 Thiemo de Bakker, who is aiming to break into the Top 50 of the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings this season. De Bakker handed seventh seed and 2001 champion Juan Carlos Ferrero only his third loss in 21 clay-court matches this year.
Ferrero dropped to 18-3 on red dirt this year after falling to de Bakker 7-6(2), 3-6, 7-6(4) in two hours and 35 minutes. Tsonga said: "It will be difficult against De Bakker next. I played him in Davis Cup on indoor clay. It was a tough match, very difficult. He's going to go up in the rankings in the next few months and has a lot of potential."
Just four days after finishing runner-up at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, fifth-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco survived a battle against No. 11 seed Jurgen Melzer of Austria for a spot in the last eight.
Verdasco recovered from a 0-2 deficit in the second set to win his fifth match in six meetings with Melzer 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-3 in two hours and 13 minutes. It was the 20th win of the year for the World No. 9, who will next challenge Latvian Ernests Gulbis, a 6-1, 6-3 victor over qualifier Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
"It was pretty difficult today with the conditions really heavy," said Verdasco. "It was tough for me to make the ball bounce and make winners also. It was hard conditions, but finally I had enough time to come back and win the match, so I’m happy."
Eighth seed David Ferrer safely advanced to his fifth ATP World Tour quarter-final (or better) this season at the ATP World Tour 500 clay-court tennis tournament. The Spaniard, a runner-up to Rafael Nadal the past couple of years, was leading Simone Bolelli 6-0, 3-0 when the Italian qualifier retired with a right wrist injury after 45 minutes of play.
World No. 17 Ferrer improved to 3-0 lifetime against Bolelli and to a 23-7 season record (17-2 on clay). He will next challenge No. 13 seed Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil, who knocked out Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 48 minutes.
Argentine Eduardo Schwank, a quarter-finalist at the Movistar Open and Copa Telmex in February, withstood 13 aces from the racquet of Ivan Navarro for a 6-3, 7-6(7) win in two hours and 12 minutes.
Thursday, 22 April 2010
Singles - Third Round
[2] R Soderling (SWE) d [16] F Lopez (ESP) 63 62
[3] J Tsonga (FRA) d [15] N Almagro (ESP) 57 61 64
[5] [WC] F Verdasco (ESP) d [11] J Melzer (AUT) 36 76(1) 63
T de Bakker (NED) d [7] J Ferrero (ESP) 76(2) 36 76(4)
[8] D Ferrer (ESP) d [Q] S Bolelli (ITA) 60 30 ret. (right wrist)
[13] T Bellucci (BRA) d G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) 64 64
E Gulbis (LAT) d [Q] A Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) 61 63
E Schwank (ARG) d [LL] I Navarro (ESP) 63 76(7)
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