Berdych Breezes Into Third Round; Soderling Tested

© Getty ImagesTomas Berdych is at a career-high No. 7 in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings.

Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych, who yesterday opened the Toronto Stock Exchange, breezed into the Rogers Cup third round Tuesday with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky.

Berdych, who is seeded to meet Roger Federer in the fourth round, saved the lone break point he faced in the 90-minute match. Sitting at a career-high No. 7 in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings, Berdych has reached the Rogers Cup quarter-finals just once before, back in 2006 when he fell to Rafael Nadal.

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"It was quite a tough match, even though two and four doesn't look like it," Berdych said. "Sergiy is playing a lot of slice, chip and charge, and coming to the net and sometimes just really fast from the baseline... You don't know what to expect like for the next shot.

"I needed to stay really focused for every point.  That's what I did and I'm happy that I got through in straight sets."

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World No. 5 Robin Soderling had a more difficult time in his second-round opener against Latvian Ernests Gulbis before prevailing 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 17 minutes. The Swede broke Gulbis in the second-to-last game before serving out the match.

"Ernests played very well today," said Soderling. "He was serving huge and hitting the ball well. It was really tough for me to really get into the match. It took quite some time, but at the end of the second set and third set I think I played much better."

Soderling, who faces the winner between David Nalbandian and Tommy Robredo in the third round, has a chance to overtake Andy Murray at No. 4 in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings based on their results this week. The two players are seeded to meet in the quarter-finals.

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Similar to Soderling, No. 16 seed Sam Querrey earned a break in the ninth game of the decisive set before closing out a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 win against fellow American Michael Russell.

"His serve is incredible," said Russell. "He's 6'6", so what he does, a lot like what John Isner does, too, is when the game score gets tight, 30-all, they take the chance and they hit aces when they need it."

Querrey, last year’s Olympus US Open Series Bonus Challenge winner, won his fourth title of the season two weeks ago at Los Angeles (d. Murray) but was upset by Janko Tipsarevic in his Washington opener last Wednesday.

Tipsarevic, a semi-finalist in Los Angeles and quarter-finalist in Washington, retired just four games into his first-round match Tuesday against German Philipp Kohlschreiber with a right ankle injury.

World No. 13 Marin Cilic suffered his second consecutive opening-round loss at the Rogers Cup when he was upset by Viktor Troicki. The Serbian fired 11 aces and saved all four break points he faced in a 6-4, 7-6(2) win over the 11th seed.

Spaniard Fernando Verdasco made his way safely into the second round with a 6-0, 5-7, 6-2 win over Argentine Eduardo Schwank. The World No. 9 looked poised for a quick day on court, winning nine of the first 10 games, but wasted a match point opportunity in the second set. He went two for four on his break points in the third set to complete the victory.  

In the final match Tuesday, Swiss No. 2 Stanislas Wawrinka dismissed Canadian wild card Frank Dancevic 6-1, 6-4 to earn a second-round meeting with top seed Rafael Nadal. World No. 1 Nadal has not dropped a set against Wawrinka in their five previous meeting.