Verdasco advances; Soderling ousted in Nice

ATP World Tour No. 9 Fernando Verdasco was in ruthless mood Wednesday as he opened his campaign at the inaugural Open de Nice Côte d’Azur with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Frenchman Florent Serra to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP World Tour 250 clay-court tennis tournament.

From trailing 1-2 in the first set, Verdasco won eight of the next nine games to establish a 6-2, 3-1 lead. He then secured one more service break in the seventh game of the second set before closing out victory in 66 minutes.

The second-seeded Verdasco improved to a 28-8 mark on the season, including 16-4 on clay. The Spanish left-hander has been one of the most in-form players during the European clay-court circuit, reaching his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final in Monte-Carlo (l. to Nadal), capturing his fifth ATP World Tour title in Barcelona and defeating Novak Djokovic en route to the Rome semi-finals (l. to Ferrer).

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World No. 29 Marcos Baghdatis reached his fourth ATP World Tour quarter-final of the year as he cruised past German Simon Greul 6-3, 6-2. The fifth-seeded Cypriot converted three of five break point chances and was strong on serve, surrendering just nine points on his delivery to seal victory in 66 minutes. The win was Baghdatis’ 24th of the year, surpassing last year’s total of 23. He won his fourth ATP World Tour title in Sydney (d. Gasquet) and has posted semi-final showings in Dubai (l. to Djokovic) and Munich (Cilic) two weeks ago.

For a place in the semi-finals Baghdatis will face Argentine Leonardo Mayer, who broke serve three times to oust fourth-seeded Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci 6-4, 6-1 in one hour and 31 minutes. World No. 59 Mayer, who lost to Bellucci three weeks ago in Rome, is through to his third ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season.

World No. 60 Olivier Rochus dealt a blow to Robin Soderling’s Roland Garros preparations as he defeated the 2009 runner-up 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the Nice second round. It is the third straight defeat the No. 7-ranked Soderling has endured on the ATP World Tour, having lost in the third round in Rome and suffered an opening-round exit in Madrid last week.


Wednesday, 19 May 2010

Singles - Second Round
O Rochus (BEL) d [1] R Soderling (SWE) 26 64 64
[2] F Verdasco (ESP) d F Serra (FRA) 62 62
[3] G Monfils (FRA) d M Chiudinelli (SUI) 16 61 64
L Mayer (ARG) d [4] T Bellucci (BRA) 64 61
[5] M Baghdatis (CYP) d S Greul (GER) 63 62
P Starace (ITA) d [8] L Kubot (POL) 63 64
R Gasquet (FRA) d A Dolgopolov (UKR) 60 26 63