2010 Mubadala World Tennis Championship: Review – Roger Federer vs Robin Soderling
Last day of the year and what could be better than back to back Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on the courts. Currently playing at the 2010 Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, Nadal and Federer are two of six superstars competing at the event.
Being played at the Abu Dhabi International Tennis Complex, the event is a three day affair of six exhibition matches with the final game on New Year’s Eve.
Thursday saw two opening matches being played with the first match between Tomas Berdych and Marcos Baghdatis followed by Robin Soderling meeting Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Semi-finals for the event were scheduled for Friday with Nadal and Federer receiving byes
into them.
Kicking off the semis action for the day was Federer as he met Soderling. Although, the match did not contribute to both players' career head to head, this was their fifth meeting for the year. In a one-sided 15-1 career head to head, Soderling’s only victory
came at the quarterfinal of the 2010 Roland Garros where he defeated the maestro, en route to the event's final. However, as statistics predicted it for today’s match, Federer once again showed the Swede that he simply is the better player, though the Swiss
was struggling for a break early in the match.
Winning the toss, Federer opted to serve in the opening game and a weak return into the net from Soderling at 40-15 won him the game. However, from there on each player won games on their serve keeping the score tied till 6-6. Entering the tiebreaker, Soderling
rushed into a 4-1 lead. Although, Federer tried to keep up, he ultimately lost the tiebreaker 7-3.
After having lost the first set, Federer decided this was all the leeway he would allow the Swede. Rushing into a 4-2 lead, Federer eventually bagged the second set at 6-3. With one set each, the match entered the decider. This was the third three-setter
at the event, a testament to the high skill level of the players contesting. Coming into the decider, the Swede was determined to put up a fight. Winning games on service, the score was tied till 3-3. Breaking Soderling’s serve in the thirtieth game, Federer
won three straight games to seal a 6-3 victory in the decider.
After the match, talking about his win against Soderling, Federer said, "I never got broken. I came back and got through a tough second set and third set I felt I was playing better."
Federer won the match with a 2-1 set score, a befitting end to a tumultuous year and a perfect start for the coming season. Starting 2010 ranked first in the world, Federer won the first Grand Slam of the year i.e. the Australian Open. Federer’s performance
suffered for the next few months and with no title wins at the other Grand Slams in the year; he lost his number one spot. Federer did however manage title wins towards the end of the season winning them at the Cincinnati Masters, Basel, Stockholm and the
season finale event at London. Determined to get back to the top, today’s match was an appropriate stepping stone for the coming season.
Federer goes on to meet Nadal in the final on Saturday. What could be better than the top two starting the New Year!
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