William Sisters Win Women’s Double Title
Nadal to Face Soderling in Men’s Final
The World No.1 pair of Venus and Serena Williams won their fourth consecutive Grand Slam doubles title when they defeated Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik in straight sets. The Americans defeated Czech Peschke and Slovenian Srebotnik with the score of 6-2, 6-3 to lift the French Open cup.
The Americans sealed the match in just 73 minutes to win their 12th career Doubles Grand Slam title, adding the trophy to the ones they won at Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows last year and at the Australian Open in January. They started the match in an aggressive mode and established control early in the match. The Williams sisters broke their opponents’ serve twice to close the opening set. The second set was also the same story, as the Americans kept their onslaught on the Czech/Slovenian pair to wrap up the match. The Williams sisters are only the third pair in history to hold all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously. It also provided them some redemption from their disappointing exit from women’s singles. Serena, who is also the top seed in singles, will now become the sixth woman to hold top spot in both singles and doubles at the same time, as the pair will achieve top ranking in women’s doubles on Monday.
On the other hand, Rafael Nadal stormed into his fifth French Open final when he outclassed 22nd seed Jurgen Melzer. Spaniard Nadal ousted Austrian Melzer with the score of 6-2, 6-3 and 7-6 (8-6) to reach the Roland Garros final. 2nd seed Nadal started the match in his traditional style, breaking Melzer twice in the opening set to establish control over the match. He also then easily wrapped up the second set. The Austrian showed some resistance in the third set, when he took the set to tie-breaker. But it was the experience of Nadal on clay and his accurate and ferocious forehand which prevailed in the end. Nadal has not lost a single set in his entire Roland Garros run this year. And his record in the French Open final is also impeccable, as he not lost once in his earlier four outings.
Meanwhile, 5th seed Swedish Robin Soderling kept his juggernauts running when he overcame Czech Tomas Berdych. Soderling defeated 15th Berdych 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3 and 6-3 in an epic match to reach the men’s singles final at Roland Garros for the second year in a row. Soderling seized the initiative early in the match, when he broke the serve in the sixth game of the opening set, when Berdych double-faulted, and went on to win the opener. Both players struggled to control their shot accuracy in humid conditions, but Berdych began to find his range, winning the second and third sets. Berdych was just one set away from making it to his first Grand Slam final when Soderling fought back to not only save his serve in the opening game of the fourth set, but also to seal the set when he broke Berdych in the sixth game. The deciding set started in an unfashionable way as both opponents broke each other in the start. But it was Soderling’s day as he broke Berdych twice to reach his second Grand Slam final. In scorching conditions, Soderling looked worn-out when Berdych hit a backhand into the tramlines to end an epic 3 hour and 27 minutes battle full of brutal baseline rallies.
After the match, Soderling said, “It was more than tough. Tomas played really well today. It was really tough for me to play my game, because he was hitting the ball so hard and so flat. Everything was ten cm from the baseline.” Soderling, who beat top seed Federer in the quarter-finals, was flabbergasted at the thought that he was back in the final after losing to the Swede last year. Nadal will have to face his old nemesis in the shape of Soderling. Soderling ousted Nadal from last year’s Roland Garros. On Sunday, we will see whether Nadal will settle his score with Soderling, or whether the Swede will inflict another painful defeat on Spaniard Nadal.
Tags: