Rafael Nadal destroys Robin Soderling; continues title defence – French Open 2011
King of Clay, Rafael Nadal destroyed fifth seeded Swede, Robin Soderling in straight sets in their quarterfinal match at the 2011 Roland Garros in Paris, France on Wednesday, June 1st.
The Spaniard took almost three hours to secure a 6-4, 6-1, 7-6(3) victory over the Swede.
Rafa entered the match standing on an impressive 5-2 lead in the pair’s head-to-head score. This was the pair’s third straight meeting here at Roland Garros. They had earlier met in the final here last year, where the Spaniard
had destroyed the Swede in straight sets. The year before, Soderling had managed to oust the Spaniard in their quarterfinal match, giving Nadal his only defeat here in seven years.
A phenomenon on clay, Nadal started strong in the opener. Breaking Soderling in the first and third game, Nadal secured an easy 3-0 lead early on. This very much hinted towards a landslide victory for the Spaniard. However, the
Swede was far from out. Fighting back hard, Soderling broke back to reduce the deficit to 4-5.
Serving for the set at 40-30, a short into-the-net shot from Soderling put Nadal one up in the set lead as he clinched a 6-4 win. Although Rafa registered a lower win on his first serve, hit fewer winners and aces as compared to
the Swede, nevertheless, he managed to win a total of 31 points against the Soderling the 28 to lead the set score 1-0. The set lasted almost fifty minutes.
The second followed somewhat the same suit. An early break in third game put Rafa in a 3-1 lead. Continuing his dominance of the 26-year-old Swede, Rafa broke him again in the fifth game without losing a single point to extend
his lead to 4-1. An error from Soderling at 30-40 in the seventh game, allowed Rafa to clinch a breadstick victory for himself.
Despite having struck a lower first serve than the first serve, Nadal was able to convert all four break point opportunities to go two up in the set score.
The King of Clay was bent on destroying the Swede in straight sets. Maintaining his form in the third set, the Spaniard came out firing as he clinched an early 2-0 lead. Determined to stay in the game, Soderling broke back in the
third game and served out the next to level the score at 2-2. After several deuces and long rallies, the score hadn’t progressed much. An exchange of break later, the score was tied at five games each. A successful hold of serve from the pros forced the set
into the match’s first tiebreaker.
Dominating the Swede in the tiebreaker, Rafa clinched an early 4-1 lead which he extended to 6-3minutes later. A forehand into the net from Soderling gave Rafa the set at 7-3, sealing the latter’s straight sets victory.
A defending champion here, Rafa continues his title defence as he moves on ahead to play top Brit, Andy Murray or Argentine veteran, Juan Ignacio Chela in the semi-final event here, later in the event.
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