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2/23/08 7:39 AM | Ricky Dimon
It’s not a semifinal matchup anyone was looking forward to when the Rotterdam draw first came out, but this contest pits together two streaking players in Robin Söderling and Gilles Simon. They have met twice before, with the head-to-head series split one apiece. Both matches came early last season; the first on carpet and the second on a hard court. Söderling got the best of Simon 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(4) in the first round of Zagreb, then Simon seized revenge two weeks later with a 6-2, 7-6(2) victory in Marseille.
If recent form is any indication, Saturday’s match will bear more of a resemblance to their first, more-thrilling encounter. Both men have been playing outstanding tennis recently, and it’s especially surprising that Söderling is showing this kind of form so soon after returning from injury. A wrist issue kept the Swede out of tennis from last August until last week’s Open 13 in Marseille.
It’s clear, however, that Söderling made the right move by not coming back until he was absolutely ready to do so. In his first tournament of 2008 at the Open 13, he upset Jarkko Nieminen and second-seeded Richard Gasquet before falling to eventual runner-up Mario Ancic in the quarterfinals. Söderling next took his comeback act to Rotterdam, where so far he has taken out eighth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis, Fernando Verdasco, and most recently Andreas Seppi to reach the semifinals. His last two wins were especially impressive. The No. 59 player in the world crushed Verdasco 6-4, 6-1 in just one hour and nine minutes before rolling over Seppi 6-3, 6-2.
While Simon is not coming back from a six-month absence, his recent results have been no less impressive than Söderling’s. The Frenchman has maintained a strong No. 36 world ranking after two solid performances this season despite having to defend title points in Marseille due to his win there last year. After struggling in his first two events of 2008, Simon reached the third round of the Australian Open, where had set points against Rafael Nadal in the first set before squandering the chances and going away in three straight. Simon followed up that nice run with a quarterfinal appearance last week at the Open 13. Included in that stretch was a second-round upset of top-seeded Novak Djokovic. This week Simon has still not lost a set after dispatching Feliciano Lopez, Janko Tipsarevic, and Teimuraz Gabashvili in succession.
Söderling owns the bigger weapons with a powerful serve and forehand that work well on indoor hard courts. Simon, however, is the steadier of the two players and he can frustrate his opponent if the Swede fails to put in a lot of first serves or dictate rallies with his forehand.
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tenstar, Sep 8, 2008 10:18 AM
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