Robin Soderling defeats Marin Cilic to claim Open 13 trophy at Marseille
The Swedish number four, Robin Soderling, won the final against Marin Cilic of Croatia at the Open 13 in Marseille on Sunday night.
Soderling claimed his third title in the current ATP World Tour season by winning over the Croatian number one in a three-set thriller, ending with a final score of 6-7 (8-10), 6-3 and 6-3.
The top seed continued his sublime form in the Open 13 tournament. He hadn’t lost a single set in his last three matches on course to the final of the Marseille Open but Cilic proved a tough challenge.
The Swede had a brilliant game of tennis besides an error-ridden opening set, which Cilic won, after a stiff contest.
The top seed recovered skilfully from the one-set deficit to claim the match. Soderling’s overall performance was quite impressive.
The Swede had a sloppy start to the contest as he strained to find rhythm in the beginning. The top seed tossed his balls in disgust as Cilic broke his serve in the very first game.
The Croat got off to an aggressive start and exerted immense pressure upon his top seeded rival. Getting an early break advantage, Cilic, served past Soderling to make it 4-2.
The Swede cracked a service break in the eighth game to force a decisive tie breaker round. The decider remained evenly poised until Soderling coughed back-to-back unforced errors at 8-8 to succumb the opening set to the Croat, 6-7 (8-10).
An exchange of early service breaks from both contestants put the score at 3-3 in the second set.
The top seed clinched another service break with a magnificent forehand winner down the line in the seventh game to get into the lead. The tall Croat awarded three set points to Soderling when he thumped a forehand stroke into the net.
Another unforced error on part of Cilic closed the second set in favour of the Swede at 6-3.
With one set a piece, both contestants stepped into the third set evenly poised. Soderling tried to craft a break point in the opening game of the decider but was denied by his opponent.
The Swede had to wait until the sixth game to crack a crucial service break to take a 4-2 advantage in the final set. The Swede had to serve for the match at 5-3 and he sealed the third and final set with four straight points to register his third singles
title for the year.
Soderling’s prime form in the running year is very inspiring. He has won seventeen of his encounters this year but lost only one (i.e. in the fourth round of the Australian Open).
The Swede number four won the Brisbane International in the first week of the season and then successfully defended his title at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam last week. The Swede is also enjoying his current form and is willing to keep
his winning momentum going.
“It’s of course a very nice feeling”, said the champion in his post match reviews, “Winning three tournaments in four tries is something I’ve never been close to before. It’s the best possible start”.
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