The fifth-ranked Swede dominated the match with his blistering
serves and accurate shot making to set up a meeting with Kazakhstan's Andrey
Golubev. Golubev overcame South Africa's Kevin Anderson 6-4, 7-6 (4).
Third-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic also
advanced by beating Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin 6-4, 6-3, and No. 5 David Ferrer
of Spain ousted Yuki Bhambri of India 6-2, 6-2.
Soderling only dropped eight points in the first set, which
lasted a mere 22 minutes. Roger-Vasselin played more aggressively in the second
set and finally held serve to make it 1-0. However, it was all Soderling from
there and the Swede closed out the victory in 62 minutes.
“To be honest it was not as easy as it looked as this is my
first match here while Edouard already had some game time,” said Soderling, who
had a bye in the first round.
“This may be one of the smaller tournaments on the ATP but
the level of competition is very high. I anticipate a tough workout in the
quarterfinals as Andrey is more mobile and hits the ball really hard and flat.”
