PETE ZIEBRON
Robin Soderling, a late wild card entry into the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, defeated Mikhail Youzhny 6-4 2-0 (retirement) to win his fifth career title. The ATP World Tour 500 tourney was not originally on Soderling’s 2010 schedule, however a disappointing beginning to the year with first round losses in Chennai and at the Australian Open caused him to scramble and ask tournament director Richard Krajicek for a wild card.
The Rotterdam tourney boasted a solid field and the semifinals featured two upset wins as Soderling rallied past 6th ranked Nikolay Davydenko in two tight sets and Mikhail Youzhny defeated world number 2 Novak Djokovic in a pair of tiebreak sets.
Youzhny, who was appearing in his fourth ATP final in his past seven tournaments called for the trainer in the latter part of the first set and appeared to be a step slow for much of the match. After being broken to go down 0-2 in the second set, Youzhny decided not to continue due to an aggravated right thigh and the ABN AMRO title belonged to Soderling.
The win at a 500 level tournament was a landmark win for Soderling as his previous four victories came at the 250 level. Four of Soderling’s five titles have been won in indoor arenas. Perhaps Soderling should hope for stormy weather should he advance deep into Wimbledon.
Elsewhere on the ATP Tour, two Spaniards not named Nadal won tournaments on Sunday. Juan Carlos Ferrero outclassed Lukasz Kubot 6-1 6-0 at the Brasil Open in Costa do Sauipe and Fernando Verdasco stormed back after losing the first set to defeat Andy Roddick at the SAP Open in San Jose 3-6 6-4 6-4.
Since Nadal’s last title at the ATP World Masters 1000 in Rome in early May 2009, Spaniards Albert Montanes, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Feliciano Lopez, Ferrero and Verdasco have won ATP tournaments.