Robin Soderling withdraws from Paris Masters due to illness – Tennis News
Sad news for the tennis fans, as the world number six, Robin Soderling of Sweden, pulls out of the upcoming ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series event in Paris due to illness.
The organisers of the Paris Masters tournament have announced on Thursday that the defending champion, Soderling, will not be taking part in this year’s last ATP World Tour 1000 event. The sixth ranked Swede is suffering from viral
infection mononucleosis and has not been seen in action since his championship victory in Bastad in the month of July this year.
The Paris Masters is the last stop before the prestigious circuit finale, the ATP World Tour Finals in London this month, and it will decide who will take the last three vacant spot in the tournament draw. The Masters Series event
will start from the 7th of November and Soderling won’t be up for defending his championship title in Paris.
The Swede was ranked at number five last year when he took part in the Paris Masters. Being the fourth seed in the tournament, Soderling got a bye to the second round and outplayed Gilles Simon of France and then Stanislas Wawrinka
to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament. he defeated the then world number eight, Andy Roddick in the quarter-finals and Michael Llodra of France in the semis to book a championship battle with Gael Monfils in the final. Soderling took down the Frenchman
comprehensively in straight sets, 6-1, 7-6(1), to win the Paris Masters in the most convincing fashion.
Soderling has been in a brilliant form this season also, winning 38 of the 47 singles matches he played in total. He was off to a brilliant start to the current season, winning the very first tournament of the year at Brisbane
by defeating Andy Roddick. Soderling then clinched another championship shortly afterwards by outplaying Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final in Rotterdam, Netherlands. He won his second consecutive title in Marseille by ousting Marin Cilic of Croatia and then
took the ATP World Tour 250 event in Bastad, defeating David Ferrer of Spain in the final. The Swede has not played any tennis since then and is suffering from injuries and illness.
Soderling’s withdrawal from the Paris Masters also diminishes his chances for making it to the ATP World Tour Finals this month. Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci has been replaced by the ill Swede in this year’s edition of the Paris Masters.
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