Robin Soderling wins the 2011 ABN AMRO Tennis Championship title
World No. 4 Robin Soderling defended his ABN AMRO World Tennis Championship title successfully. Defending champion capped a perfect week of sensational tennis in Rotterdam by securing the ATP World Tour Tennis Tournament. The championship is the ATP World
Tour 500 series event which takes place in Rotterdam, Netherlands annually. Soderling was classy as he defeated his opponent, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final in three sets with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 scorecard.
It took Soderling less than an hour and a half to defend his title as he fired 12 aces, collected 80% points on his first serve and converted 3 out of 3 break points to end his opponent’s hopes. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was also exceptional with his serve but
could not capitalize on that as he paid heavily for his unforced errors at the crucial moments in the match.
After losing the first set 6-3, Tsonga came back very strongly in the match. The Frenchman took complete charge of the game in the second set as he scored 9 aces and mustered 94% points on his first serve. Tsonga who is known for his aggressive ground strokes,
clinched the second set 3-6 easily under 30 minutes as he converted 1/3 break points and won 30 points in total as compared to Soderling’s 19.
At one set all, the game was on, but the experienced Swede had other plans as he broke the serve in the eighth game of the third set and held on it to win the championships 6-3, 3-6 and 6-3.
Earlier, Soderling downed Serbian Viktor Troicki in straight sets 7-5, 6-4 in the first semi-final. The World No. 4 enjoyed great success throughout the tournament, taking full advantage of Andy Murray and David Ferrer’s early exit from the tournament. The
Swede was offered very little or no resistance from his opponents as he sailed into the championship final. On the other hand, Tsonga had some nervy and anxious moments in the other semi final as he battled past Ivan Ljubicic 6-4, 7-6 to make a place for him
in the final.
The two players had met each other three times previously with the Swede emerging victorious on all three occasions. In the 2008 Master Series Hamburg, Soderling overwhelmed Tsonga 6-2, 7-5 and then at the 2009 Shanghai Masters, he defeated the challenger
6-3, 6-3. In their last encounter at Masters Series Indian Wells 2010, Soderling again won in straight sets 6-3, 6-4. Going into the final of 2011 ABN AMRO World Championship, Soderling had a huge psychological advantage and he made the most of it to record
his second ATP tile of this year. Earlier this year, the rising star from Sweden shined at Brisbane International where he defeated Andy Roddick in the final.
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