PETE ZIEBRON
Robin Soderling is now 13-1 in 2011 Pete Ziebron Images
World #4 and top seed Robin Soderling defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 63 36 63 to win his 8th career title and defend his ABN-AMRO Rotterdam 500 crown. Soderling needed just 83 minutes to win his 2nd title of 2011.
"I'm not sure how I managed to break you because you were served unbelievably well" an enthusiastic Soderling told Tsonga at the trophy presentation. Tsonga, the tournament's #8 seed, hit 20 aces compared to 12 for Soderling but the world #4 was able to break Tsonga in each of his three opportunities in the Final.
Soderling came into the match with a 3-0 lifetime mark against Tsonga and had not dropped a set against the Frenchman. Each of their previous meetings had been at a Masters 1000 tournament in each of the past three years, the most recent a late afternoon, round of 16 tilt at Indian Wells last March.
With the win, Soderling improves to 13-1 for the year and also credited the work of his new coach Claudio Pistolesi after the match. Former coach and fellow Swede Magnus Norman helped Soderling achieve appearances in each of the past two Roland Garros Finals. The two parted ways late last year as Norman wanted to spend more time with his family.
Robin Soderling and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will be in action next week at the Open 13, a 250 level tournament in Marseille, France.
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