Big serving Soderling serves notice for Melbourne
Sweden’s Robin Soderling served notice that he cannot be discounted
for the Australian Open after overwhelming Andy Roddick in the final of
the Brisbane International here on Sunday. Soderling turned in a
brilliant display of powerful serving and crushing groundstrokes in cool
and damp conditions to see off a gallant Roddick 6-3, 7-5 and claim the
seventh title of his career.
While Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are hot favourites to fight out
the first Grand Slam of the year later this month, Soderling’s
performance in Brisbane suggests he has leapfrogged Andy Murray and
Novak Djokovic as the man most likely to upset the big two in Melbourne.
The Swede has already beaten Nadal and Federer in Grand Slam
tournaments, downing Nadal in 2009 and Federer in 2010, both at Roland
Garros.
“I am playing really well and what makes me really happy is that I’ve
never really played well in Australia before,” Soderling said.
“But now I’ve won a tournament here and I’m playing really good
tennis, which makes me happy and gives me a lot of confidence for
Melbourne.
“I’ve had the best possible preparation I could have — five good
matches here and then I’ll have a week of practice and preparation in
Melbourne and I’ll be more than ready to go.”
Soderling, who will rise to No.4 in the world as a result of the win,
lost only one service game in the tournament, during Saturday’s
semi-final win over Radek Stepanek.
He served 49 aces during the week, including 16 in the final, but
sent down countless other unplayable first serves.His serving was so
effective against Roddick that the American didn’t get a break point
opportunity in the entire match, Soderling losing just nine points on
serve in 11 games.
By contrast, Roddick had to scrap hard to hold his own serve almost
every time. He cracked once in each set, but that was enough to see
Soderling through to a hard-fought victory. Big serving Swede serves
notice for Melbourne
BRISBANE, AFP
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