2011 Brisbane International: Robin Soderling makes his way to the final
The Swedish tennis ace Robin Soderling has made his way into the final of the 2011 Brisbane International Men’s single tournament on Saturday after getting the better of Radek Stepanek in two sets. The final match score was 6-3,
7-5. The clash lasted for a time period of eighty two minutes.
The 26-year-old Swede said after the match, "This was the best match so far of the tournament.”
Soderling, who is currently ranked number five in the South African Airways ATP list, had to dig deep to cruise past Stepanek, however, he did well to emerge victorious in the end.
The right hander started off strongly as he broke his opponent early in the opening set and maintained that lead till the end to seal it at 6-3, after just twenty nine minutes of action.
However, after losing the first set, Stepanek did well to further improve his game and thus put up a good fight in the decisive set. He managed to break Soderling’s serve on the first occasion in the match at 5-5 however, he couldn’t
maintain that lead afterwards as the Swede recovered immediately and held his serve till the end to wrap up the match.
World number 62 Stepanek, who has been ranked as high as number eight in the world, ended runner up last year in Brisbane. He was overpowered by Andy Roddick in the title battle. The Czech won the crown back in 2009 after brushing
aside Fernando Verdasco from Spain.
In spite of the fact that Stepanek served greater number of aces in comparison to Soderling, the Swede still managed to make his way into the finals as a result of his accuracy. In the end, Soderling proved just why world number
one Rafael Nadal considers him as the biggest threat to his title aspirations.
The hard hitting Swede, by virtue of this victory, will next take on either Andy Roddick or Kevin Anderson of South Africa in the title battle on Sunday. Roddick, the last year’s winner, is expected to get past Kevin in straight
sets in the second semi final match of the day.
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