Robin Soderling - 2010 Grand Slams in review
Robin Soderling is the only player who can count defeating both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer at the French Open among his achievements, but after reaching the Roland Garros final for the past two years still can’t call himself a Grand Slam champion.
Still, 2010 has proved to be the most consistent yet for Soderling at the majors, where he’s reached the final eight on three out of four occasions.
Here we review his 2010 performances at the Grand Slams one-by-one.
Australian Open
The crowds at Melbourne Park could be forgiven for asking “Robin who?” given his poor performances at the year’s first Grand Slam, where he’s yet to progress beyond the second round, and 2010 proved to be more of the same for the Swede.
Soderling fell to 113th-ranked Marcel Granollers in a five-set first-round match at the Australian Open. While the Spaniard deserved credit for attacking Soderling’s serve, the eighth seed played a significant role in his own demise, with 64 unforced errors flowing from his racquet for the match compared to Granollers 39.
French Open
No player has been more consistent than Robin Soderling at Roland Garros in the past two years, but the Coupe des Mousquetaires has remained just out of reach for the dual runner-up. In 2009, he became the first player to defeat Nadal at the tournament; a feat that served only to pave the way for Federer to complete his career Grand Slam in Paris.
This year, Soderling extracted his revenge on Federer by breaking a 12 match losing streak against the 16-time Grand Slam champion in the quarter-finals. Two matches later and it was Nadal, hungry to win back the title he had made his own in recent times, on the other side of the net.
The Spaniard hadn’t been defeated on clay all season, and Soderling wasn’t up to the task on the day.
“I didn't play as good this year as I did against him last year. I didn't serve as well. I wasn't hitting the ball as clean. It was tough today. I didn't really get into the match,” Soderling said after the 4-6, 2-6, 4-6 defeat.
Wimbledon
Soderling recorded a career-best quarter-final finish at Wimbledon, booking his place in the final eight with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 win over David Ferrer in the fourth round.
Once again though, it was Nadal who proved the stumbling block. The big-hitting baseliner did take a set off the eventual champion in a match where neither player really hit his stride but that was all he could manage.
US Open
From the moment the draw delivered a potential quarter-final between Soderling and Federer, keen observers had ample reason to track every match the pair played up to that point.
Fortunately for fans, while there were upsets aplenty in the early rounds, neither the Swede nor the Swiss were among them. Soderling was forced to go the distance in his opening match against Andreas Haider-Maurer, a player ranked outside the top 200, after holding match point in the third set.
“Of course I wanted to finish it in three when I had the match point,” Soderling said afterwards. “But it's better to win in five than lose in five.”
After that shaky start, two straight sets wins followed before Albert Montanes snared the first set in their fourth round match. Soderling rebounded to book his place in the quarters with a four-set win.
Federer, apparently not motivated by revenge for the Paris upset, was nevertheless inspired in the blustery conditions on centre court, and with his serve nigh on unreturnable for large chunks of the match, Soderling was dismissed in straight sets.
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