Wimbledon 2010 - Nadal cruises his way to semi-finals
In another Wimbledon quarter-final match the current World Number 1 Rafael Nadal came back to win a thrilling match against Sweden’s Robin Soderling on Wednesday. Nadal who previously defeated Soderling in the finals of French Open 2010 came back from a catastrophic first set loss to finish 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 and 6-1 on Court One. The 2008 Wimbledon champion is looking to win his second Wimbledon title this year.
The first set seemed a nightmare for the Spaniard as Soderling took an early lead of 5-0 with just 18 minutes on the clock. At that time it seemed that the Swede would take his French Open final’s revenge from Nadal today. The World Number 1 kept his nerves up and at last got his break in game 6 of the first set and quickly jumped back to win the game. He kept his winning pace in the next two games of the opening set and took the score to 5-3. However the Spaniard was not able to keep his momentum in game 9 of the set and at the end lost the set when Soderling played a short half volley close to the line. The second set however proved to go in favour of Nadal as he took an early lead. The match started with a point given by the umpire to Soderling. Nadal argued with the umpire for awarding the point but after sometimes went back to the court to continue the game. Nadal quickly showed why he is known as one of the best players of tennis as he took the first three games out of Swedes hand. However in the fourth game Soderling made a return back after hitting a couple of heavy forehand volleys and a winner took the game. Soderling cut the lead to 4-2 as he won game 6 of the match. Nadal kept on fighting in the next game with some heavy serves and at last succeeded after winning the second set and levelling the score 1-1.
The third set looked out to be the toughest one for both the players. Soderling started serving the match with some heavy serves and gave a tough challenge to the Spaniard. Nadal tried to break Soderling’s serve in several occasions but failed in all his attempts. Nadal soon got successful in breaking Soderling’s serve in the fifth set when the Swede hit a wide forehand shot. The Swede after losing his equanimity threw the racquet on the ground. Soderling did receive two occasions to win back the break from Nadal but he failed to grasp them. Finally Soderling at last took an opportunity which he received in the ninth game as he called for a trainer to deal with an issue he was having in his left foot. The medical trainer took some time to reach Soderling and thus the match continued after eight minutes. The Wimbledon second seed double faulted and broke his serve and gave advantage to Soderling. Robin Soderling took the match to a tie break but failed to capitalize and Nadal thus won the third set and took lead for the first time.
The fourth set was a disaster for the Swede as he failed to show his domination in the court. Nadal played his top class game and didn’t surrender against Soderling. The Spaniard quickly led 3-0 in the fourth set and kept building pressure on the Swede. Nadal broke in the fourth and sixth game of the fourth set and at last sealed the match with a forehand winner in the seventh game. Nadal has qualified for the fourth time in Wimbledon semi-final and he is in top form this year. He won the French Open title earlier this month and has his eyes set on the Wimbledon gold. Nadal will compete against the British Number 1 Andy Murray in the semi-finals.
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