TENNIS in DEPTH.

Tommy Robredo staged a successful comeback in the Movistar Open final, preventing first-time ATP World Tour finalist Santiago Giraldo of Colombia from serving out the match before prevailing 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(5) on Sunday in Santiago. Robredo, a former World No. 5, claimed his 10th ATP World Tour title and his first since winning back-to-back crowns at Costa do Sauipe and Buenos Aires during the 2009 ‘Golden Swing’. Nine of his 10 ATP World Tour titles have come on clay courts.

“Extremely happy about this 10th title,” said Robredo, who earned 250 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points and $68,850. “Ten is a very nice number and it feels good to lift the trophy again.” Sixth seed Robredo came out with confidence in his 17th tour-level final, winning six straight games to go up a set and a break. Giraldo finally stemmed Robredo’s run as he recovered the service break in the second game, and broke the Spaniard two more times in the set – drawing level when Robredo double-faulted on set point. The eighth-seeded Giraldo broke for a 3-2 lead in the third set, but failed to serve out the match as Robredo got back on serve at 5-4. Robredo was unable to convert on a break point chance at 5-all, but clinched the win in the tie-break on his second match point opportunity. “When he served at 5-3 in the third, he started being less aggressive and put the ball more in play which allowed me to play longer and get into the court again,” said Robredo. “He was hitting really hard until then and it was really tough to put my game together.”

Robredo, 28, had dropped to a No. 40 ranking coming into this year’s Movistar Open after winning a total of 20 matches last season – his fewest since 2000. He has a 9-2 record through the first five weeks of the 2011 season, including his fourth-round run at the Australian Open (l. to Federer).

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Thomaz Bellucci began the defence of his Movistar Open title in Chile in style with a 6-2 6-2 win over Filippo Volandri on Monday.

Third-seed Bellucci was comfortable in his first-round match in Santiago, winning all five break points created to move into the second round where he meets Rui Machado, of Portugal, or home wildcard Felipe Rios.

Spanish sixth-seed Tommy Robredo came from behind to beat Portuguese player Frederico Gil 2-6 6-3 6-4 despite enduring an horrendous start. He faces Ricardo Mello next after the Brazilian beat Spain’s Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo.

Juan Ignacio Chela had to dig deep at times to overcome Chile’s Jorge Aguilar 6-3 7-5 while Igor Andreev also moves into the second round.

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Top seed and defending champion Robin Soderling survived a scare before booking his place in the semi-finals of the SkiStar Swedish Open to the delight of his home fans.

Soderling came within two points of defeat before edging past Italian Andreas Seppi, who had served for the match at 5-4 in the final set before falling 4-6 7-6 7-6 (7/5) in two hours and 25 minutes.

Soderling will meet Spanish third seed David Ferrer in the semi-finals after Ferrer secured a quick-fire 6-3 6-3 win over Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas.

Double former champion Tommy Robredo scored a minor upset when he surged past second seed Fernando Verdasco 6-4 6-3.

Next up for Robredo is another Spaniard, Nicolas Almagro, who ended the run of qualifier Franco Skugor 4-6 6-4 6-0.

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Robin Soderling booked his place in the third round of the Barcelona Open with a straight sets win over Juan Ignacio Chela.

The 25-year-old Swede won through 7-5 7-5 although the match was not all smooth sailing as he had to deny Chela from serving out the second set.

Local hopeful Nicolas Almagro joined Soderling in the last 16 as he beat Simon Greul for the second time in a week.

Almagro, the 15th seed, battled past the German at the Monte Carlo Masters last week but enjoyed an easier afternoon in front of his home fans to win 6-1 6-3.

Lucky loser Ivan Navarro made full use of his second chance to beat Pablo Cuevas 6-2 6-4. The Spaniard was drafted into the main draw after sixth seed Tomas Berdych’s withdrawal due to an ankle injury.

In first round action, former world number one Lleyton Hewitt continued his return from hip surgery to beat qualifier Marsel Ilhan 6-4 4-6 6-2 in just under two hours.

Twelfth seed Hewitt underwent surgery straight after the Australian Open in January and reached the quarter-finals in his first tournament back at Houston last week.

Other seeds to progress were Jurgen Melzer (11) who beat veteran Nicolas Lapentti 6-3 6-3 while Feliciano Lopez (16) was 6-3 3-0 ahead when his Ukrainian rival Oleksandr Dolgopolov jnr retired.

Three seeds were eliminated from the draw today with Tommy Robredo (nine), Juan Monaco (10) and Barcelona resident Albert Montanes suffering surprise defeats.

Robredo was trailing 6-7 (9/7) 6-4 3-1 when he retired from his match with Simone Bolelli while Monaco was beaten by Spanish qualifier Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-2 3-6 6-2.

Montanes showed little fight in his 6-3 7-6 (7/1) defeat to world 46 Jeremy Chardy, although the home fans did have some reason to cheer when Barcelona-born Albert Martin beat Mikhail Kukushkin 7-5 6-4.

Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis fired 11 aces as he beat Peter Luczak 7-6 (7/4) 6-3 while clay-court specialist Victor Hanescu breezed past Andreas Beck 6-1 6-2.

France’s Stephane Robert and Sergiy Stakhovsky were three-set winners against Denis Istomin and Mischa Zverev respectively.

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Andy Murray eased into the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells after fourth-round opponent Nicolas Almagro was forced to retire with an ankle injury.

Fourth seed Murray was leading 6-2 1-0 when his unseeded Spanish opponent was forced to call it a day having already called a medical time out at the end of the first set.

Next up for Murray is a tricky looking encounter with sixth-seeded Swede Robin Soderling, who defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets to reach the last eight.

Roddick defeated Jurgen Melzer 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday night. Roddick improved to 10-0 against Melzer.

“You know, I don’t enjoy the matchup as much as a 10-0 record would suggest,” Roddick said. “He’s always tough, and I think there’s definitely a little bit of luck involved there.”

Roddick managed one break against Melzer, but stayed in control.

Next up for Roddick is Tommy Robredo, who is winless in 10 meetings against Roddick. Robredo defeated Marcos Baghdatis on Wednesday, and Baghdatis defeated No. 1 Roger Federer on Tuesday.

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Great Britain took an unexpected lead in the tie when the 15-year-old Robson claimed the biggest scalp of her fledgling career by beating Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-1, 7-6 (8/6).

World No 4 Andy Murray, who had not lost a match in the group stages, then missed the chance to clinch what would have been Great Britain’s first Hopman Cup success when he lost to Tommy Robredo 1-6 6-4 6-3.

The Scot was made to pay for not closing out the tie as Spain completed the come-from-behind win when they then won the mixed doubles 7-6 (8/6), 7-5.

Great Britain had twice fended off championship points in an absorbing mixed doubles, but it was third time lucky for the Spanish pair when Martinez Sanchez arrowed a forehand winner down the line.

For Robredo it was the second time he has won the tournament after he successfully teamed with Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in 2002.

Murray had spearheaded Great Britain’s run to the final but it was his playing partner Robson, seven years his junior, who stole the limelight in the singles as she toppled a top-30 player for the first time.

The Australian-born left-hander did not win a match in the group stages, but saved her best until last as she fired 28 winners to upset the No 26.

The 403rd-ranked Robson was not expected to test Martinez Sanchez, who had been in top form this week having not dropped a single set, but unhinged the Spaniard’s trusted serve-and-volley game with some pinpoint passing strokes.

The teen twice broke with backhand winners in the first set as her confidence grew before serving it out with an ace.

The second set was a far tighter contest and Robson had to draw on her resolve to save a set point and pull back a break to force a tie-break.

Robson was fearless in the decider as she continued to go for her shots and, despite squandering four match points, regained her composure to fittingly secure the win with a backhand cross-court winner.

The Britons then looked to be on track for the title when Murray continued his impressive form by taking the first set against Robredo 6-1.

But from there the veteran Spaniard fought his way back into the match as Murray self-destructed on the back of 29 unforced errors.

The Scot was broken in the 10th game to concede his first set at the tournament and never recovered after immediately losing his serve in the third set as his Spanish opponent started to run him around the court.

It was at the very least a lesson in humility for the 22-year-old after he had declared yesterday that he would not lose to the 27-year-old Robredo.

And those words were made to haunt him as the Spanish pair sewed up the win in the mixed doubles.

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SPAIN has made the perfect start to its quest for a third Hyundai Hopman Cup title by beating the United States on Sunday inside Perth’s Burswood Dome.

After the top-seeds Australia suffered a shock loss to Romania on Saturday to begin Hyundai Hopman Cup XXII, Spain’s Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and Tommy Robredo both won their singles over America’s Melanie Oudin and John Isner to assert themselves as contenders for the championship.

Martinez Sanchez began the Tie with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Oudin and then Robredo came back from a set down to beat Isner 6-7, 6-3, 7-6.

Martinez Sanchez came into her match with Oudin not feeling her best after taking time to adjust in Perth since arriving, but she showed no signs of her discomfort on court.

She is coming off the best singles year of her career to rise to a ranking of 26 in the world, and showed why by taking out the first set 6-4 over the teenage American on the back of one break of serve.

The 27-year-old Spaniard then started strongly in the second to go out to a 5-2 lead to close in on a comfortable victory, but then Oudin showed some of the fighting qualities that saw her bounce back from losing the first set of each of her matches at Wimbledon and the US Open before making the fourth round and quarter-final at the Grand Slams.

Oudin managed to reduce Martinez Sanchez’s lead to 5-4, but the Spaniard was able to serve out the match to begin 2010 in impressive fashion. The Spaniard wasn’t feeling her best before the match, but was glad she could still close it out in the second set.

“I was not OK. I threw up also, but now I’m much better,” Martinez Sanchez said.

“At the beginning of the season it’s difficult to play matches because we went two months without playing. I was winning 5-2 and you have some doubts, but at the end I could win.”

The men’s match was a contrast in styles with the veteran battler Robredo taking on the giant Isner. Both men wouldn’t give an inch in an entertaining first set that went to the tie-break and Isner got on top and finished it off with a massive 225km/hr serve to claim it.

Robredo turned his game up another level in the second set and found some chinks in the game of the big American to race out to a 5-2 lead and he took out the set 6-3.

After Robredo secured the only break of the match in the second set, the third again stayed on serve and went to the tie-break. This time Robredo prevailed to take out the match and secure the Tie for Spain.

Robredo was tired after the 2hr 28mins match with Isner, but was glad he could tough out the victory.

“I am tired after playing two-and-a-half hours for the first match of the year, it was really tough. I’m so proud because playing against a player like John, it’s so difficult to keep focus all the time,” Robredo said.

“He didn’t break me in all the match so it really made me happy. With a player like him if you have five or six chances of making a passing shot in all the match, you have to try to make nearly four or five.”

In the mixed doubles, Spain’s prowess proved too good as Martinez Sanchez and Robredo beat the Americans 6-4, 7-5 to wrap up the Tie 3-1.

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Rafael Nadal survived another major scare before edging past Tommy Robredo to reach the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters on Thursday.

Robredo served for the match at 5-4 in the final set but was unable to close out a famous win against his fellow Spaniard.

Nadal, who saved five match points against Nicolas Almagro in the previous round, made the most of his reprieve to seal a 6-3 3-6 7-5 victory. Both Robredo and Almagro are players that Nadal should have little or no trouble in beating, yet he continues to struggle with his game. Hi s next match with Tsonga could well be his final one of this tournament.

The world number two will face France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last eight after Tsonga’s 6-2 6-3 demolition of compatriot Gilles Simon.

Tsonga qualified for the ATP World Tour Finals with victory in this event last year, and remained on course for a repeat as he overpowered Simon.

The other quarter-final in the bottom half of the draw sees Robin Soderling take on in-form world number three Novak Djokovic.

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