Wins for Murray, Soderling

Andy Murray and Robin Soderling remained on course to challenge French Open defending champion Rafael Nadal with both scoring straight set wins in second round action on Thursday. Soderling, who could meet Nadal in the quarter-finals, defeated Albert Ramos of Spain 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, while Murray, who is seeded to play the Spaniard in the semi-finals, defeated Simone Bolleli of Italy 7-6, (7/3), 6-4, 7-5.
Also through went Croatian veteran Ivan Ljubicic, who beat Sam Querrey of the United States 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-4, Spain's Fernando Verdasco, who ousted Xavier Malisse of Belgium 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 and Alejandro Falla of Colombia, who defeated Florian Mayer of Germany 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-1, 6-2. Mardy Fish meanwhile kept the American flag flying with a 7-6 (7/1), 6-2, 6-1 win over Robin Haase of the Netherlands. He is the sole American survivor into the third round.
What all players had in common was their struggles with the swirling winds that sent the red dirt flying on the famous Parisian claycourts. Murray at times looked to the heavens as though the weather gods were to blame for his erratic shot-making that turned what should have been a straightforward encounter into a hard slog of a match. Bolelli had his chances in all three sets, but each time he got his nose in front, the 24-year-old Murray would move up a gear and when he did that he always had too much game for the Italian to handle.
Murray looked like he would drop his first set of the tournament when he trailed 3-5 in the third, but Bolelli again played a poor service game when in front and the Scot rattled off the next three games to move into the third round here for the fourth straight year. He will next play the winner of the tie between French veteran Arnaud Clement and Germany's Michael Berrer as he tries to at least match his best ever performance in the year's second Grand Slam tournament - a quarter-final appearance in 2009.
"It was so tough because the wind was not consistent - swirling the whole time," Murray said of the testing conditions. Soderling has lost the last two finals here to Roger Federer in 2009 and Nadal last year and he remains the only player to have beaten the five-times champion Spaniard at the French Open - in the fourth round of 2009.
Having won three titles early on this year, Soderling's recent form on clay has been patchy, but he says each time he walks in through the doors of Roland Garros in May he feels revitalised.
So it proved on Thursday as he led all the way against Ramos, a 23-year-old Spaniard who won his first Grand Slam match on his debut at a major on Tuesday. It was a typically bludgeoning performance from the big Swede who used his firepower off both flanks to send Ramos scurrying about from side to side of the court. Soderling jumped out into a 3-0 lead and had little difficulty pocketing the first set.
It was the same in the second with Soderling comfortable on his own serve and Ramos struggling to hold his. The fifth seed broke in the third game and he was soon two sets up. Soderling broke again to lead 4-3 in the third set only to drop his own serve for the first time in the match in the following game. The fifth seed and runner-up for the last two years will play Leonardo Mayer of Argentina for a place in the last 16. Results from the fifth day of the 2011 French Open at Roland Garros on Thursday (x denotes seeded player):
Men (2nd round): Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) bt Sam Querrey (USA x24) 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-4; Fernando Verdasco (ESP x16) bt Xavier Malisse (BEL) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1; Mardy Fish (USA x10) bt Robin Haase (NED) 7-6 (7/1), 6-2, 6-1; Leonardo Mayer (ARG) bt Marcos Baghdatis (CYP x27) 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (8/6); Robin Soderling (SWE x5) bt Albert Ramos (ESP) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; Andy Murray (GBR x4) bt Simone Bolelli (ITA) 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 7-5; Lukasz Kubot (POL) bt Carlos Berlocq (ARG) 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3; Alejandro Falla (COL) bt Florian Mayer (GER x20) 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-1, 6-2.