• ATP Tour

Soderling advances in Open 13

Robin Soderling recovered from losing theopening set to see off © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• News: Llodra serves up an upset in Marseille
  
• Profile: Robin Soderling

Robin Soderling recovered from the shock of losing the opening set to Sergiy Stakhovsky to claim his place in the third round of the Open 13 in Marseille with a 6-7 6-3 6-4 win.

The first set proved a tight affair as neither player gave up a break point and it was Stakhovsky who prompted talk of a shock when taking the breaker 7-5.

The setback of losing the first set sparked the No. 1 seed into life as Soderling secured a break of serve to level the match.

Soderling cranked up the pressure at the start of the final set and a weak drop shot from Stakhovsky set up an opening and a powerful forehand return earned the Swede a break.

The Ukrainian called for the trainer for treatment on his knee when 3-2 down in the final set and he was provided with some strapping.

Despite the problem, Stakhovsky continued to serve with authority, but the setback of being broken by last week's Rotterdam winner at the start of the set proved his undoing as Soderling closed out the match in a shade under two hours.

"It is great, I love to play here," Soderling said. "It is a nice tournament and is always good to come on the back of a win. I was a little bit tired, but I played well in the end and hopefully I will play to the same level tomorrow.

"I played the final in 2004, so I have good memories and always play good tennis here."

Gael Monfils thrilled the home crowd with a 7-6 3-6 7-6 win over Andreas Seppi. The No. 3 seed was not at his best, but set up an all-French quarter-final with Julian Bennetteau by edging through in the final-set breaker.

French wildcard Guillaume Rufin continued his fine run in Marseille with a 6-3 2-6 6-2 win over Yannick Mertens and he will face Mischa Zverev in round three, while Ilya Marchenko beat Olivier Rochus 6-1 3-6 6-2.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.