Swede Robin Soderling looked every bit a Grand Slam title contender on Tuesday, as he booked a place in the Roland Garros semi-finals – the first time he has done so in 21 Grand Slam championship appearances.
The No. 23 seed, full of confidence after beating David Ferrer and four-time defending champion Rafael Nadal in previous rounds, knocked out 10th seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 in one hour and 42 minutes. It was Soderling’s third straight win over Davydenko in six meetings.
Soderling, who will next meet 12th-seeded Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, becomes the first Swede to reach the Roland Garros semi-finals since his coach Magnus Norman advanced to the final in 2000.
“I always knew that I could play really, really good tennis when I'm on top of my game,” said Soderling. “The thing that I'm most happy with is that I played very well now not only for this tournament, I played well last week [at the ARAG ATP World Team Championships in Dusseldorf], as well.”
Soderling will appear in his ninth ATP World Tour outdoor semi-final and only his second clay court semi-final ('04 Bastad). He has never reached an ATP World Tour-level outdoor final. All nine of his finals (3-6) have come indoors.
The 24 year old saved two break point in his opening service game – the only two opportunities Davydenko created in the match – before he broke his Russian opponent twice in succession to take a 5-0 lead. Soderling clinched the first set in just 23 minutes.
Davydenko, a semi-finalist in 2005 and 2007 celebrating his 28th birthday, was forced to save four break points early in the second set but Soderling finally made the breakthrough in the seventh game when Davydenko hit a forehand into the net.
Soderling ran through the third set to improve to eight matches unbeaten. The World No. 25 won 41 of 80 points on return of serve, nine of 13 net approaches and hit 34 winners. Davydenko, who was contesting his ninth Grand Slam championship quarter-final, hit five double faults and committed 25 unforced errors.
"I really don't know what I can say about the match," confessed Davydenko. "If I tried to play well, he played much better. He surprised me; he played faster than before. The three times I lost to him [in previous matches], I was never allowed to play well."
Soderling, who ranked a career-high No. 15 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings on 2 February 2009, is guaranteed to return to the Top 20 on Monday. He has a 16-10 record on the 2009 season.
“I didn't have a very easy draw,” explained Soderling. “I played three very good clay‑court players and I played three very good matches, so of course my confidence is getting better and better.”
(From Website : http://www.atpworldtour.com/TENNIS/1/EN/NEWS/NEWSARTICLE_3858.ASP)
