PETE ZIEBRON
Robin Soderling in action earlier this year at Indian Wells (Pete Ziebron Images)
Robin Soderling once again stormed Philippe Chatrier court to convincingly defeat the #1 seed and defending champion for the second consecutive year. Last year, Soderling dealt Rafael Nadal his first ever loss at Roland Garros and today he ended Roger Federer's bid for a 24th straight berth in a Grand Slam semifinal 3-6 6-3 7-5 6-4.
- With the match tied at a set apiece and 5-5 in the third set, rain fell once more in Paris and interjected with a 1 hour 15 minute delay. Soderling was faster to adjust to the heavier conditions following the precipitation and proceeded to break Federer and then serve out the set. Although Federer raced to a 2-0 lead in the 4th set, he was quickly broken and also failed to hold his serve later at 4-4.
Although Soderling has started to show the form that he exhibited last year at Roland Garros, his results in 2010 have been mixed. Two shocking first round exits to begin the 2010 campaign to 100th ranked Robby Ginepri in Chennai and to 113th ranked Marcel Granollers at the Australian Open
caused Soderling to reconsider his schedule and he promptly requested a Wild Card to enter the 500 level tourney in Rotterdam where he defeated Mikhail Youzhny to win his 5th title. To date, the Rotterdam crown is Soderling's most significant title in his career.
Soderling then started to play well and advanced to the semifinals at both spring Masters 1000 tourneys in the US, where he lost to Andy Roddick in Indian Wells and to Tomas Berdych in Miami.
However his results heading into Roland Garros were less than spectacular. Following a loss in the Barcelona Final to Fernando Verdasco,
Soderling arrived at Roland Garros with a 3 match losing streak:
- Nice #60 Olivier Rochus 6-2 4-6 4-6
- Madrid #35 Nicolas Almagro 4-6 5-7
- Rome #26 Stanislaus Wawrinka 3-6 2-6
Soderling will play Tomas Berdych on Friday for a place in the 2010 Roland Garros Final. Regardless of the outcome, Robin Soderling has etched his name into tennis lore for his slayings of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in successive years at Roland Garros.
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