2010 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals: Match Preview – Robin Soderling versus Roger Federer
Group B singles action enters its last day of the round-robin stage on Thursday as the professionals battle it out for the semifinal qualification. Swede Robin Soderling takes on Swiss Roger Federer in the afternoon session. Later
in the day, Spaniard David Ferrer meets local Andy Murray in a must win clash.
Having done away with Ferrer on Sunday and Murray on Tuesday, Federer enjoys a 2-0 win-loss mark in the event. This has upped his career event record to 31-7. The Swiss enjoyed easy straight set wins over both his opponents losing
only eleven games in total to both of them. This is Federer’s ninth straight qualification for the season finale. His best period was from 2003-2007, when he made final appearances for five straight years bagging the title in four of them.
Federer had a somewhat tumultuous season this year. Although he won the title at the Australian Open in the beginning of the season, he failed to make it to the finals of the remaining three Grand Slams event. Result of which was
such that he lost his world number one spot to Rafael Nadal. He was pushed down to world number three by Novak Djokovic after the latter made it to the semi finals at Wimbledon and the final at the United States Open. Towards the end of the season, the Swiss
has taken a turn for the better. Making a final appearance at Shanghai and winning the title at Basel and Stockholm, the Swiss has managed to move up the world rankings to the second position. The world number one spot, however, is far from his grasp even
if he manages a title win at London this week.
Meeting Soderling for the sixteenth time on the courts, Federer leads their head-to-head score with a landslide, enjoying the “almost one-sided” 14-1 lead. The only time the Swede managed a win over the Swiss was at the 2010 Roland
Garros quarterfinal. The Swede, however, has never managed a win on the hard court. Confident about his record against Soderling, Federer said, “I'm excited to play Soderling. I have a great record against him. I hope I can play the same level like I did
the last two.”
As much confident as Federer might be, it would be unwise to dismiss Soderling. Enjoying a win-loss mark of 56-20 this season, Soderling comes into the event fresh from a maiden title win at the Paris Masters. This win caused him
to upset Murray, moving to fourth position in the world rankings. He secured another maiden title win this season when he won the ATP 500 series event at Rotterdam. Making final appearances at three events this season including the Roland Garros, Soderling
is one of the favourites to win the title this year. The in-form Swede was dubbed by critics as a force to be reckoned with in the season finale.
Even though he lost his opening match to Murray on Saturday, he returned to full form on Tuesday when he played Ferrer. Doing away with the Spaniard, Soderling moved to the 1-1 mark in the event.
While talking about his match with Federer, Soderling assessed, “He's a really tough player. He's No. 2 in the world. He's playing really good right now. He played two unbelievable matches so far in this tournament. But like always
against him I need to serve and return well and try to be aggressive. I have to try and not give him too much time.”
Though Federer enjoys the statistical advantage and may very well defeat Soderling, it would be foolish to take it as such completely. Although not against Federer, but the Swede is known to have surprised fans in the past. Nonetheless,
his recent form may give him the advantage to win one over the Swiss.
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