Soderling struggles past Ferrer

Sixth seed Robin Soderling reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the first time but was pushed all the way by David Ferrer.

The Swede, who did not drop a set in the opening three rounds, started off in similar fashion but ninth seed Ferrer twice fought back before Soderling triumphed 6-2 5-7 6-2 3-6 7-5.

The close finish looked unlikely when Soderling took just 26 minutes to secure the opening set, with his game better than Ferrer’s in almost every aspect.

The 25-year-old also showed composure when faced with two break points midway through the set – dealing them with an ace and a confident approach to the net.

He broke the Spaniard’s serve for a third time early in the second but missed four more break-points during the set as Ferrer improved his return.

The reverse looked like being just a minor blip as Soderling returned to form to take the third set in 29 minutes, with his first serve proving irresistible and Ferrer’s second serve letting him down.

But once again Ferrer fought back, with some careless shots proving costly for Soderling as he was broken twice while being unable to convert his three break points.

The decider went with serve for 10 games until Soderling broke with the help of some well-placed forehands and the French Open runner-up sealed victory in the three-hour contest on his third match-point when Ferrer failed to return a powerful serve.