2010 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals: Roger Federer sails into the semis
Swiss tennis star Roger Federer sailed into the semis after defeating Swede Robin Soderling in their last round robin (RR) stage match on Thursday. Federer moves into the semis with a perfect 3-0 record.
Having defeated David Ferrer on Sunday, then local favourite Andy Murray on Tuesday and now Soderling today, Federer moves into the semis with a perfect 3-0 mark. Having won four titles at the World Tour Finals (WTF), Federer is in full swing this time round as he sets his eyes on another WTF title. Federer enjoyed straight set wins over all three of his opponents losing only twenty games in total.
Soderling moves down to a 1-2 mark in the event, having lost to Murray on Sunday. The Swede secured his first event win after he defeated David Ferrer on Tuesday. Following his defeat today, Soderling has been eliminated from the running. There now remain only two contenders for the second spot, Murray and Ferrer. The two are to play their last RR stage match later in the day.
With the defeat today, Soderling’s season is officially over. He ends the season as the world number four after displacing Murray earlier in the month. This is the Swede’s career’s highest ranking after turning pro in 2001. Soderling moved to 4th in the ATP rankings after bagging his maiden title at the 2010 BNP Paribas Masters two weeks ago. He won one other title this season at Rotterdam; this was also his maiden title win at an ATP 500 series event.
Serving first, Soderling won the opener to take a 1-0 lead over Federer. However, breaking serve in the third game and serving in the other two, Federer took a 3-1 lead. Winning one game each in the next two games, Federer maintained the lead at 4-2. Soderling bounced back in the seventh game to win three consecutive games, taking the lead at 4-5. From here on, both professionals won one game each to level the score at 6-6 taking the set into a tiebreaker. Entering the tiebreaker, Soderling put up a fight keeping the score tied at 2-2. Serving for the fifth point, Federer caught a break and shot into a 5-2 lead. Soderling once more tried to keep up by winning three of the next four points reducing Federer’s lead to 6-5. However, with a well placed volley, Federer won the last point to win the tiebreaker 7-5. Entering the second set, both professionals were once again caught in a tooth and nail battle desperately trying to take the lead. The score was however tied till 3-3. Federer caught a break in the nineteenth game and winning three consecutive games won the set 6-3. Federer had already qualified for the semis after winning the first set. Winning the second set was merely to keep a perfect record of 3-0 in the event.
While talking to the press after the match, Federer commented, “To play against Robin is never easy. He's a big hitter and you have to work on your defence. He can be very frustrating to play against, but I took it to Robin and I'm very pleased to have won. I could still have maybe needed some time to wait for the Murray match tonight, so I just wanted to come out and try to play as good a match as I can because losing is never the solution to trying to win a tournament. That's why I'm happy that all three matches were straight sets, I didn't waste any energy, I'm playing real well and I'm through to the semis so it's all good right now."
Federer will play the second position of Group A later in the event. The second position of Group A will be decided after Friday’s matches.
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