Robin Soderling in great form, looking to break Nadal-Federer Dominance
Swedish Robin Soderling is enjoying top form this season, as he has won 17 of the 18 matches he has played this year. The Swede has already won three titles this year.
Soderling started the season as the top seed in the Brisbane International, in the first week of the year. In the first round, he defeated Ryan Harrison of USA 6-2, 6-4. The Swede beat Michael Berrer of Germany 6-3, 7-6 in the
second round. The 26 year old thrashed Australian Matthew Abden 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. The Swede continued his progress by defeating Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 in the semi-final. In the title match, the right handed Swede prevailed over
second seeded Andy Roddick of USA 6-3, 7-5.
Soderling did not drop a single set in the championship and by clinching the title he replaced Andy Murray of Great Britain as the fourth tanked player in the world.
The Swede entered the Australian Open as the fourth seed and moved to the fourth round without dropping a single set. However, in the fourth round, he lost to unseeded Alexandr Dologopolov of Ukraine. Soderling lost the match in
five sets 6-1, 3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 2-6. On the road to the fourth round, Soderling defeated Italian Potito Starace 6-4, 6-2, 6-2, Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-3, 7-6(1), 6-1 and Jan Hernych of Czech Republic 6-3, 6-1, 6-4.
The world number four, then competed at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam as the top seed and successfully defended his title. He defeated French Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the final. On his way to the
final, Soderling defeated Robin Haase 6-3, 6-2, Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(7), Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 7-6(5) and Viktor Troicki 7-5,6-4 in the semi-final.
After winning his second title of the season in Rotterdam, he played the Open 13 in Marseille. In the first round, Soderling got a bye as the top seed. He beat Nicolas Mahut of France 7-6(8), 7-6(5) in the second round. In the
quarterfinal, the Swede prevailed over Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-1, 6-4. He continued his ascent as he defeated Dmitry Tursunov of Russia in straight sets 7-5, 6-1 in the semi-final. The Swede was given a tough time by Croatian Marin Cilic in the final. However,
he won the match in three sets 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-3.
With his win at the Open 13, Soderling captured his third title of the season and ninth of his career.
The Swede is confident that he is one of the players who can challenge the dominance of world number one Rafael Nadal and world number two Roger Federer.
Soderling said, “I never felt that the gap was very big [between Nadal, Federer and the rest]. There are a lot of very good players and I think there are 10 or even 15 guys who can win the big tournaments like the Grand Slams.”
The Swede beat the Spanish and Swiss in 2009 and 2010, on his way to the French Open finals respectively.
He added, “I still feel I can improve and become a better player. If I can do that then I’m pretty sure I have a good chance to do well this year. [During the off season] I tried to do a few things. I tried to work on playing a
little bit more aggressively, coming into the net a little bit more.”
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