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Soderling cruises through in Rotterdam

Robin Soderling was in fine form in Rotterdam © Getty Images

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The No. 1 seed Robin Soderling and defending champion breezed into the second round of the World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, with the Swede brushing aside the challenge of Robin Haase 6-3 6-2.

Haase had the support of the home crowd in Netherlands and he also had the element of surprise against the world No. 4, with the contest being their first meeting, but neither factor did him any good as Soderling was simply too powerful.

Soderling was imperious behind his own serve, as he did not give up a single break point, and it enabled him to attack Haase regularly from the back of the court. Haase powered down 11 aces, but he was exposed behind his own second serve as he won just 8 of 17 points on second serve.

Haase was repeatedly put under pressure and although he showed battling qualities by saving seven break points, three breaks were enough to take Soderling into the second round.

To No. 4 seed Tomas Berdych was equally impressive, disposing of Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1 6-2, while the Dutch crowd were given something to cheer as Thiemo De Backer came through a seesaw encounter against Philipp Petzschner 6-4 0-6 6-1.

Australian Open semi-finalist David Ferrer came back down to earth with a bump on Tuesday after he was sent crashing out in Rotterdam.

The world No. 6, who opened 2011 with a nine-match winning streak, claiming the title in Auckland before reaching the last-four in Melbourne, was ousted in straight sets by Finland's Jarkko Nieminen.

The Spaniard struggled with his serve, hitting five double faults and winning just 54% of service points against a player he beat in the Australian Open first round last month, as he suffered his first opening round defeat since August, falling 6-3 6-4 in 76 minutes.

Eighth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came through a tricky first-round tie against Grigor Dimitrov unscathed. Tsonga, who is struggling to recapture his form after a knee injury, was upset by Aleksandr Dolgopolov in Melbourne, but had clearly learned his lesson as he moved past the talented Bulgarian teenager 6-4 6-4.

Ivan Ljubicic booked his place in the second round with a hard-fought 7-6(3) 6-3 win over Sergiy Stakhovsky, while Philipp Kohlschreiber beat Yen-Hsun Lu 6-4 7-6(5).

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