Robin Soderling wins opener in straight sets at Stockholm Open

Soderling wins opener at Stockholm Open

STOCKHOLM — Top-seeded Robin Soderling breezed past Giovanni Lapentti of Ecuador 6-3, 6-0 Wednesday in the first round at the Stockholm Open.

The Swede broke Lapentti’s serve to lead 3-1 in the opening set before a capacity crowd at the Royal Tennis Hall.

Leading 5-3, Soderling faced his only break point in the match. He saved it and hit two service winners to close out the set. Soderling broke Lapentti again at the start of the second set and was never challenged the rest of the way.

“The first match is always the most difficult in a tournament,” Soderling said. “But I think I played better and better the longer the match lasted.”

The 10th-ranked Soderling, who was a surprise finalist at the French Open this year, will play Andreas Seppi of Italy in the second round.

Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus ousted third-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain 6-4, 6-2 in another first-round match. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez beat Simon Greul of Germany 6-3, 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals.

Fourth-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina was eliminated, losing 6-4, 6-4 to Swedish wild-card entry Joachim Johansson. Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil outlasted Leonardo Mayer of Argentina, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.

Second-seeded Tommy Haas, a two-time semifinalist in Stockholm, defeated Florent Serra of France 6-3, 6-4. Haas broke Serra’s serve once in each set. The German will play Jarkko Nieminen of Finland.

Eighth-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain stopped Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-2, 6-4 in another first-round match.