Robin Soderling edges pass Sam Querrey to lead tie against America at Power Horse World Team Cup
World number five, Robin Soderling of Sweden, defeated 26th ranked Sam Querrey of the United States in his singles rubber at the Power Horse World Team Cup on Monday.
Being played at the Rochusclub in Dusseldorf, Germany, Soderling kicked off the Team Sweden vs Team America tie. After toiling hard for two hours and thirty five minutes Soderling was able to wrap up the three-set thriller at 5-7,
7-5, 7-6(3).
However, Soderling’s victory over Querrey couldn’t prevent Sweden’s defeat at the hands of Team America in the Round Robin stage. America took down Sweden 2-1 to get the early advantage in the Blue Group of the tournament. Soderling
won his singles rubber but Sweden suffered losses in the other matches to lose the competition in the end.
The fifth ranked Swede took down his opponent after an enthralling battle, with every set being extended. Soderling dropped the opening set to be on a disadvantage early but he bounced back strongly in the very next set to level
the contest and enforced a third. The last set was stretched to a tie breaker round and Soderling finally took the better of Querrey to come out as the winner in the end.
The two men have faced each other on three prior occasions, with Soderling winning all three encounters. The last time they met was in the round of 32 at the US Open in 2009, when the Swede concluded victory at 6-2, 7-5, 6-7(6),
6-1.
The aggressive American gave a tough time to Soderling and hung in the game till the last moment. Querrey had a ballistic start to the game but gradually let the momentum shift towards his opponent. The most dominant feature of
his game was the 21 fiery aces which Querrey belted to the opponent’s court.
The American amazingly reeled off 20 out of 23 first serve points and banged inn 10 aces to get the upper hand in the opener. A single serve break proved sufficient for Querrey to seal the first set at 7-5. Soderling came up with
the similar feat in the following set, levelling the contest by bagging the second set at 7-5 to impose a decisive third set.
The decider went on neck-to-neck as both contestants broke twice to take the scores to 6-6. A tie breaker round came in to play and the American finally crumbled to submit the set to Soderling at 6-7(3).
Soderling’s victory over Querrey levelled score at 1-1 but Sweden was led down by the duo of Simon Aspelin and Robert Lindstedt. Mardy Fish and John Isner blew away Sweden’s hopes by winning the doubles encounter to give America
a 2-1 victory in the tie.
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