2011 Brisbane International: Preview – Robin Soderling vs Matthew Ebden
As the week draws to a close, the 2011 Brisbane International is entering its last days. Entering its sixth day on Friday, the event sees two quarterfinal matches for the men’s singles draw. Wrapping up the quarterfinal round at the event is top Swede Robin
Soderling and local rising star Matthew Ebden.
Finishing last year as the first Swede to enter the top ten in a decade, Soderling occupied the fifth position in the rankings. Being the highest ranked player at the event, Soderling occupies the top seed position. Starting his run at the event on Tuesday
4th January, Soderling met qualifier Ryan Harrison for his opening clash. Enjoying the advantage of a superior skill-set, Soderling defeated Harrison in straight sets registering a 6-2, 6-4 score for the match. Moving ahead in the event, Soderling
met Michael Berrer for his second round clash. In a close fight with the German, Soderling was able to get away with a straight set victory albeit barely. Winning the first set 6-3, Soderling met with much resistance in the second set although, he was eventually
able to clinch a 9-7 victory in the tiebreaker.
The number one Swede was one of six to unofficially start the 2011 season in 2010 playing at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi. Winning his opening match there against Marcos Baghdatis, Soderling lost to world number two Roger Federer in
the semis.
Registering a win loss mark of 57-22 for 2010, Soderling finished last year with only two yet extremely important career wins. Early into the season, he won his maiden ATP 500 event title at Rotterdam defeating Mikhail Youzhny. Although, he put in no title
wins till much later into the event, he did make it to the finals of the Bastad event, the Barcelona event and the Roland Garros. Holding onto the fifth position in the rankings for the better part of the year, Soderling earned a spot in the elite eight man
field at the season finale event in London. His second title win of the year came in November when he won another maiden title, this time at a Masters event. Defeating local Gael Monfils, Soderling won the Paris Masters moving to the fourth position in the
rankings. He, however, lost this position after failing to make it past the round robin stage at the season finale event.
Given the Swede’s superb performance in 2010, Ebden’s own run in the year is put to shame though the young rising star achieved his own career best in the year. Although, he failed to clinch any titles, he jumped from being 331st in the world
to finishing the year ranked 183rd. His rankings' jump came as a result of his second round run at the 2010 Brisbane International where he upset sixth seed Jurgen Melzer to move ahead in the event.
In a surprising turn of events this year banking on the home court advantage, Ebden has secured a spot for himself in the quarterfinals after defeating wildcard entrant John Millman in his opening clash and then doing away eighth seed Denis Istomin in the
second round.
Calling it his best performance yet, Ebden is eager to meet Soderling on the courts. He said, “I look forward to going out and testing my skills against one of the best players out there.”
Having never met on the courts before, the head to head score between the two players rests at a level 0-0. Although, given the disparity in their rankings, Soderling is truly the favourite to win, still Ebden’s reputation of upsetting seeds makes it impossible
to completely discard the Aussie.
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