Robin Soderling’s victory over Maximo Gonzalez fails to save Sweden in Power Horse World Team Cup
Brilliance of world number five, Robin Soderling, couldn’t prevent Sweden’s defeat at the hands of Argentina in the round robin of the Power Horse World Team Cup on Wednesday.
In the contest being played at the Rochusclub in Dusseldorf, Germany, Soderling outclassed the Argentine, Maximo Gonzalez, in singles rubber to level the 0-1 deficit of Sweden in its second tie of the tournament. The fifth ranked
Swede wrapped up his straight sets victory at 6-1, 6-4, in merely 71 minutes of play.
Sweden’s dry spell continued in the World Team Cup as it lost the opening two ties of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event. After a 1-2 defeat from Team America, Sweden had a poor start to the second
tie against Argentina, as Christian Lindell lost the first singles rubber to the Juan Ignacio Chela on Tuesday. Soderling kept the Swedish hopes alive in the game by winning his match against Gonzalez but the strong Argentine duo of Chela and Juan Monaco reeled
off their doubles match to bring a 2-1 victory for their side.
Soderling has won both of his singles rubbers in the tournament so far but his individual efforts have been in vain, as Sweden lost both of her opening ties. Soderling had no real trouble in disposing off the Argentine from the
contest in straight sets to keep his sublime form in action. He faced very limited resistance from Gonzalez in the opener but the Argentine hung in for a while in the next set before submitting the game to the world number five.
Although Soderling’s serve was not up to the mark, reaching 53 percent in the contest, the Swede was phenomenal with bagging crucial points in the game. He clinched 59 of the total 97 points being played in the game, while Gonzalez
collected the rest of 38 points to be on the losing end. The Argentine converted the only break chance he got in the game but had to suffer four serve breaks from the mighty Swede in the game.
Soderling took off the opener with his typical aggression, breaking the opponent in his second game to put early pressure on his rival. The Swede stung another break point to close the opening set at 6-1 and continued his momentum
in the following set as well.
Gonzalez tried to break the shackles with his first break point of the contest but Soderling proved too good for him. The Swede stung two serve breaks to close the second set at 6-4 to bring victory to his side. Soderling’s brilliant
efforts went in vain as Sweden lost to Argentina in the tie to suffer her second defeat of the tournament. Team Sweden will take on Kazakhstan in the next encounter on Thursday.
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