The No. 16-ranked Robredo won 31 of 40 points on serve and converted five of 12 break point chances to wrap up victory in the pair’s first meeting after 77 minutes. The Spaniard improved to a 23-6 tournament record after reaching the semi-finals for the sixth time. He went on to capture the title in 2006 (d. Davydenko) and reclaimed the trophy last year with victory over Tomas Berdych.
The 27-year-old Robredo has enjoyed strong results on clay this season and lit up the South American clay-court season in February with back-to-back titles at Costa do Sauipe (d. Bellucci) and Buenos Aires (d. Monaco) to mark the second time he has won two titles in a year (also 2006). The right-hander was also a quarter-finalist at Roland Garros (l. to del Potro) and has compiled a 36-14 match record in 2009.
For a place in his 17th ATP World Tour final, Robredo will meet Juan Monaco after the Argentine advanced when top-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco retired with a right calf injury trailing 1-6, 1-3.
"In the first game of the match I pulled a muscle in my calf. It was really hard to play after that. I had real pain when serving, especially since the injury was in my my right leg," explained World No. 9 Verdasco. "Monaco played well and didn't make any mistakes. It was not easy for me, I tried to continue playing but when I saw that I had no chance to win I retired before injuring myself further. Bastad is one of my special tournaments of the year. It's hard for me to retire here."
Robredo and Monaco have split their previous four meetings, with Monaco winning their most recent clash in straight sets at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo.
World No. 61 Monaco is bidding to reach his second ATP World Tour clay-court final of the season after finishing runner-up to Robredo in Buenos Aires in February. The 25 year old, who has also reached the quarter-finals at two further clay-court tournaments in 2009, improved to a 24-16 match record on the season after reaching the Bastad semi-finals for the first time in four appearances.
Swedish No. 2 seed Robin Soderling advanced to the Bastad semi-finals for the first time since 2004 after defeating fifth-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 7-5, 6-3. Despite losing an early lead in the first set, Soderling hit back to take the one-set lead as he broke the Spaniard to love in the 12th. The top Swede broke through once more in the eighth game of the second set before closing out victory after 74 minutes. Soderling also defeated Almagro recently in the third round at Wimbledon.
The 24-year-old Soderling, currently a career-high No. 12 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings after reaching his first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros (l. to Federer), improved to 23-12 mark on the season.
The Tibro native, who is coached by two-time former Bastad champion Magnus Norman, captured the doubles title last year with Jonas Bjorkman, but is yet to reach the singles final in seven previous appearances. He has twice before reached an ATP World Tour final on home soil, finishing runner-up in Stockholm in 2003 (l. to Fish) and 2008 (l. to Nalbandian).
In an all-Swedish semi-final, Soderling will take on wild card Andreas Vinciguerra, who recovered from a set down to defeat Austrian doubles partner Jurgen Melzer 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. After being broken twice to surrender the first set, the No. 460-ranked Vinciguerra hit back to break once in the third game of the second set to level the match at one-set-all. The left-hander then won the final three games of the match from 3-3 in the third set to seal victory after one hour and 45 minutes.
Vinciguerra Makes Fairytale Comeback
The 28-year-old Vinciguerra, who has been plagued by a succession of injuries since 2001 – when he reached a career-high of No. 33 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, is through to his first ATP World Tour semi-final since October ’01 at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Paris (l. to Kafelnikov).
Vinciguerra will look to reach the Bastad final for a third time when he takes on Soderling in the pair’s first meeting on Saturday. He finished runner-up in the 1999 and 2000 title matches.
(From Website : http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2009/07/Bastad-Friday-Robredo-Closes-On-Third-Final.aspx)
15 years ago