World number 13, former world number 4, has announced that he will not fly to Melbourne for the Australian Open in January as he continues to struggle with the effects of gladular fever.
Soderling hasn’t played since mid July when he won the Bastaad title. During his loss to Bernard Tomic at Wimbledon just weeks before Soderling was clearly out of sorts, complaining of being dizzy and feeling unwell. Read more
Posted in Bastad, Bernard Tomic, Illness, Robin Soderling, Wimbledon
On a day of mixed results in Hamburg, Nikolay Davydenko has continued to work his way back into form after being off the tour for some weeks with a fractured wrist. Nikolay, the defending champion, needed just 58 minutes to defeat Florent Serra in straight sets 6-3, 6-1.
Juan Carlos Ferrero also secured a straight sets win in his match over Jan Hajek after recovering from a early service break in the first set. Ferrero will have to play Jarkko Nieminen in the next round. Read more
Just one week after Spain claimed the World Cup and two weeks after Rafael Nadal won Wimbledon, the winning ways of Spain have continued as Nicolas Almagro and Albert Montanes both claimed a title overnight.
Nico fought off Robin Soderling to secure his sixth career title in Bastard where Soderling was defending champion. It was the fourth consecutive match in which the world number five was pushed to five sets, having not played his best tennis since returning to the clay courts. Almagro, on the other hand, had taken to the clay like a fish to water (or really like a Spaniard to clay) and won the match, and the tournament 7-5, 3-6, 6-2. Read more
Posted in Albert Montanes, Bastad, Gael Monfils, Hamburg, Injury, Nicolas Almagro, Rafael Nadal, Robin Soderling, Stuttgart, Wimbledon
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After being pushed to three sets a few times this week as he returned to clay, Robin Soderling will face a Spaniard, Nicolas Almagro for the title in Bastad. Soderling battled past clay court specialist David Ferrer, winning their semi 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
“I had to play better today because Ferrer puts a lot of balls back at a very high pace. I always liked to play high balls, though, it doesn’t seem to bother me to hit at shoulder height. I can still serve better and reduce the number of mistakes but it was much better today.”
Soderling will certainly have to deal with the heavy hitting pace of Nico, who blasted compatriot Tommy Robredo off the court. 6-1, 6-3. While Soderling leads their head to head 3-2 he has said the outcome of the match is not so straight forward. “He serves well and can hit really big from both sides. If his game is on, it’s not just up to me. He has the ability to dictate the match.”
While it’s a fair point that Almagro can be very dangerous when he’s in form, defending champion Robin should get the job done. Soderling has the ability to hit the ball through the court with incredible speed that troubles even Nadal on clay. He also has incredible strength at end of range so Nico’s going to have his work cut out for him.
Posted in Bastad, David Ferrer, Nicolas Almagro, Robin Soderling, Tommy Robredo
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After a few weeks of disapointing results Spaniard Tommy Robredo has made a winning start in Bastad against Michal Przysiezny 7-6, 6-3 for a spot in the second round. After some initial rain delays Tommy claimed the match in just 80 minutes. Robredo will now face Andrey Golubev for a place in the quarterfinals.
Robredo has won the Bastad title twice previously and is looking to collect his third. Robredo, who currently sits at number 27 in the world rankings, last claimed a title in February 2009
Meanwhile in Stuttgart Gilles Simon claimed his fifth win of the season defeating Dustin Brown 6-3, 3-6, 7-6. The results comes after Simon defeated Almagro in a dead Davis Cup rubber in straight sets. Simon has struggled to be fit to play at all since the US Open last year with ongoing knee injuries.
Posted in Andrey Golubev, Bastad, Davis Cup, Dustin Brown, Gilles Simon, Injury, Michal Przysiezny, Nicolas Almagro, Stuttgart, Tommy Robredo, US Open
