Robin Soderling shrugged off a slow start, firing 26 aces as he lifted his game to earn a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over Frenchman Florent Serra on Monday to reach the second round of the Rotterdam Open.
The Swede showed no signs of the elbow complaint that knocked him out of the Australian Open first round, but the third seed said he could have used a quicker start.
“The first match of the week is always the most difficult for me,” last year’s Roland Garros finalist said. “I could have had a better start. But my game got better and better. I know I can play a lot better. I’m satisfied with the win but not really with my form.”
The victory was the first of the season for Soderling after losses in Chennai and Melbourne last month. Soderling cranked up his huge serve, which apart from his numerous aces also saw him break his opponent’s serve three times.
The world No. 8 finally sealed victory with an easy third set in a match that lasted 1 hour, 45 minutes.
Soderling dropped the first set on an early break, but turned the tables after fighting through the second and sweeping the third against his 60th-ranked opponent. German Florian Mayer got stuck into an opening-day marathon, requiring almost three hours to advance over Serb Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (8/6).
The marathon took up most of the afternoon inside the Ahoy stadium in contrast to the day’s opening contest when Italy’s Andreas Seppi defeated Swiss qualifier Stephane Bohli 6-1, 7-5 in a shade less than 90 minutes.
“I had chances in the second set [match point] and led 3-0 in the third,” said the 63rd-ranked Mayer, who lost in the Australian Open third round to US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, “I couldn’t hold onto to either one. In the end I was just lucky to win.”
Mayer’s victory marked the third straight match that Tipsarevic had been beaten by a German. He went out in the Zagreb opening round to eventual finalist Michael Berrer and lost in the second round of the Australian open against Tommy Haas — who received a US passport a few weeks ago.
Tipsarevic has now lost three of four career matches in Rotterdam dating back to 2007.
Tipsarevic’s countryman Novak Djokovic is the top seed as he strives to hang onto his new world No. 2 ranking on the ATP list behind Roger Federer.
■PATTAYA OPEN
PATTAYA, THAILAND
Germany’s second seed, Sabine Lisicki, needed just 32 minutes to advance to the second round of the Pattaya Open on Monday when her opponent Akgul Amanmuradova from Uzbekistan retired injured. Lisicki was leading 5-0 when the trainer was called to administer on-court treatment to her Uzbek rival who was suffering from a stomach muscle injury. After dropping the next game, Amanmuradova conceded the match.
Russian Anna Chakvetadze earned a welcome 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory over American Jill Craybas but was still unhappy with her form.
The Russian has struggled for some time to recover the form that once took her as high as world No. 5. Now she is ranked 74 as her slump that began after the 2008 US Open has extended from last year into this season.
Last month she was beaten by Date Krumm in the first round in Auckland, and she then failed even to survive the qualifying rounds in Hobart. At the Australian Open she fell to 12th-ranked Flavia Pennetta in the first round.
“I just didn’t feel the ball,” Chakvetadze said. “I don’t know what happened. I think I have to go and hit more balls today because it’s really tough to win matches if you play like this. I came just a couple of days ago from Russia and it’s a little tough for me, you know. But that’s not an excuse. I have to play better if I want to win some matches.”
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