Robredo tested again

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:28

The 16th-seeded Spaniard lost the first set to Mardy Fish and was taken to a tie-break in the second before finally seeing off his battling opponent 3-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-2 in more than two hours.

“It was very hard work but I think I deserve that victory,” said Robredo, who also lost the first set in his opening-round clash at La Caja Magica against Nicolas Kiefer before hitting back.

“The first and second set he (Fish) played very well and we had to fight it out to see who could make it in the third.”

Robredo will now face the winner of the match between new world number three Andy Murray and Simone Bolelli, which takes place later on Tuesday.

“Every day there are tough matches here. When you play at home in Spain, against someone like Murray, then hopefully the fans will be behind me and that will be a great experience,” Robredo said.

“He still has to beat Bolelli and he is a hard competitor, he hits the ball very hard and if we wins that will also be a tough challenge for me.”

Robredo was the first player to reach the third round but joining him in winning his second-round match was countryman Fernando Verdasco, the seventh seed, who beat another Spaniard, wild card Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-3 6-2.

The rest of Tuesday’s early matches in the men’s section were first-round encounters. In those, 10th seed Nikolay Davydenko cruised past Viktor Troicki 6-2 6-2 and 13th seed Marin Cilic saw off Marcel Granollers 6-2 6-7 (4/7) 6-1.

Also progressing through to the second round were Andreas Seppi, Jeremy Chardy, Tomas Berdych, Jurgen Melzer and qualifier Fabio Fognini, whose opponent Paul-Henri Mathieu retired towards the end of their match. Fognini was leading 6-7 (5/7) 6-4 3-0 at the time.

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