Robin Soderling celebrates his wining

Even when Tomas Berdych took a two set to one lead, you had the feeling that Robin Soderling would rise to the occasion and overtake his impressive opponent. As evidenced by his first Grand Slam semifinal appearance, the 15th seeded Berdych is having his best year on the tour but his record against top ten performers in Grand Slam events fell to 1 – 13.

Sure enough Soderling adjusted his game plan and swept through the final two sets to record a strong 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 victory that will elevate the Swede to number five on the tour, his highest ranking to date. Soderling will be in the finals for the second year in a row. Last year the Swede lost to the Swiss, Roger Federer.

Soderling’s win was hard-fought. Prior to the match, Berdych had an eight match winning streak. The underdog came out firing against Soderling who seemed surprised by Berdych’s game plan. After capturing a decisive break in the first set, Soderling’s defensive strategy where he minimized his mistakes and allowed Berdych to dictate play worked for the fifth seed. Berdych continued to attempt high risk strokes.

If players of this caliber are left a free rein, they will make those high risk shots. Sure enough, Berdych began to land powerful returns of serve and challenged Soderling’s serve in just about every game in the second and third sets. With each shot the Czech star landed, his confidence grew.

After his 6-3 win in the second set and his 7-5 win in the third set, Soderling went into attack mode. The Swede unleashed his respected forehand, one of the most powerful in the game. The change in strategy from a defensive to offensive player was a good move. When Soderling broke in the sixth game of the fourth set to get back to even, it seemed to take some of the steam out of the Czech. Using a powerful down the line forehand return, Soderling finally converted a key break point opportunity in the 11th game of the set.

In the final set, the players exchanged early breaks. Soderling gained an advantage he would not relinquish in the seventh game when he surprised Berdych with a smooth inside out cross court forehand that left the Czech flat footed.

Soderling has a 27-9 season record and will be seeking his sixth tour title on Sunday. He will need to reduce the errors but continue to hit out against the heavily favored Spaniard. Soderling deserves to be where he is and Nadal is wary of the big hitter’s forehand. The problem for Soderling is that Nadal makes impossible retrieves and puts gusto into those inconceivable shots.

Nadal Downs Melzer

Nadal downs Melzer

Since his arrival in Paris, the four time winner at Roland Garros has played as if it was his tournament to lose. In fact, the left-handed Spaniard is correct. Handsome, charming and determined, Rafa Nadal plays to win. If an opponent is down, Rafa sees the finish line and quickly puts those opponents out of their misery.

Such was the case against surprise semifinalist Jurgen Melzer of Germany. With the 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (6) win, Nadal extended his winning streak on clay to 21 consecutive matches. This year, Rafael Nadal has yet to lose a set in Paris.

After dropping the first set and trailing in the second, Melzer realized he had to do something different. The German went to a serve and volley game plan. The tactic caused some uncharacteristic errors for Nadal.
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In the final set, Nadal grabbed a quick break and the crowd sensed the end was near. With Nadal serving for the match at 5-4, the German ran off three surprising points to take a 0-40 lead. When Nadal double faulted, Melzer was back to even at 5-5. Both players held serve.

In the tiebreaker, there were eight mini-breaks before Nadal finally gained the edge and the match. The win was the Spaniard’s 37th of the year. If Rafa wins on Sunday, he will regain the number one ranking he lost at the hands of Soderling in Paris last year. Nadal’s 202 – 16 clay court record makes him a prohibitive bookmaker favorite. Soderling acknowledged as much and said he would have to play his best tennis to win.

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