Soderling Ends Losing Streak to Federer (AP/Ena)
When Roger Federer hits 40 winners versus 27 unforced errors in a match, usually he wins. But today he came up against the hard hitting Robin Soderling who, despite having 49 winners to 42 unforced errors, was finally able to break his 12 match losing streak to the world No. 1 winning 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. Although many sports headlines will carry the overused phrases of “shock defeat” or “stunning loss” in describing the match, to those who’ve kept up with Soderling since he lost to Federer in last year’s French Open final, the caliber of play exhibited by the Swede is no surprise at all. Meanwhile, the first women’s semifinal was set today as well and will feature someone who reached the finals a few years ago versus a woman making some history of her own.
Though Robin Soderling said recently he felt more and more confident as the French Open approached, his clay court results as of late didn’t back that up. He did get to the finals of Barcelona, but some early exits in Rome and Madrid had some doubting if he could repeat his form of last year. After Federer won the first set today only dropping two points on his serve, it looked like Federer would cruise to victory. But Soderling changed his tactics in the second set by serving big, even on second serves, and attacking Federer’s own second serve by returning deep and into the middle of the court forcing Federer to hit from his back foot.
Even though a rain delay halted play in the third set at 5-5, it was Federer who appeared more affected by it when he dropped serve after being up 40-15. Once Soderling took the third set, the expectation was that the Swede’s level of play and his intense concentration would waver in the moment. But Soderling stuck to his guns and continued to hit 70 mph forehands pinning Federer far back on the court. Federer himself started going for broke himself, serving big when he needed to, but eventually the Swede’s firepower was too much forcing another break of serve at 5-4 that allowed Soderling to serve out the match. Soderling will next face Tomas Berdych in the semifinals after Berdych dismissed Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-1, 6-2.
The loss by Federer ends not only what has been an up and down clay court season for the Swiss star, which included a first round loss in Rome and a finalist finish to Rafael Nadal in Madrid, but also Federer’s streak of 23 consecutive Grand Slam semifinal appearances. It also puts Federer’s top ranking in jeopardy as Nadal could reclaim No. 1 if the Spaniard wins the French Open title outright.
Meanwhile, the two women’s quarterfinals played today had less drama than recent matches of late. Veteran Francesca Schiavone easily beat Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-3 and becomes the first Italian woman in the Open era to reach the French Open semifinals. She will meet Elena Dementieva who saw off fellow Russian Nadia Petrova 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 after injury time outs from both players saw a bizarre halt to play early in the second set when both players left the court at different times, then came back and were allowed a full warmup. But it was Petrova’s strained thigh that hampered her movement late in the match that sealed the win for the No. 5 seed and keeping her hopes alive at finally winning that still elusive first Grand Slam title.
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Soderling and Schiavone were absolutely incredible today! It’s great to see some comeuppance from players who’ve worked so hard over the years.
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