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  • Davis Cup Quarterfinal Preview: Söderling vs Acasuso

    4/10/08 8:53 PM | Cheryl Murray
    - Robin Söderling and Jose Acasuso see singles action on day one of the Davis Cup quarterfinals. Sweden travels to foreign soil as they take on the Argentines at home on clay.

    In a surprise move, the Argentine captain Alberto Mancini has decided to play the No. 40 ranked player Jose Acasuso in singles over his higher ranked teammates. Juan Monaco is No. 17 in the world, Guillermo Canas is 24. When asked about his choice, Mancini replied that sometimes these decisions are not 100% sport related, and that he thought Acasuso has been playing well. Acasuso has had fantastics results on clay in 2008, having performed well in the South American clay court swing earlier in the year. He made the semifinals in Acapulco and he reached the final of Buenos Aires, which he lost to his teammate David Nalbandian.

    His opponent in this rubber is the hard hitting Robin Soderling who has also had good results in 2008. He made the finals in both Rotterdam and Memphis, but both were hard court events. This match will be his first of the season on clay. Soderling has a losing record on clay lifetime (26-29), and given the form that Acasuso has shown on the dirt so far this year, Soderling will most likely have his hands full with the Argentine.

    Acasuso should be able to grind Soderling down from the baseline. Soderling relies, not on his movement to win matches, but on the velocity and placement of his serve and forehand. He wins on hard courts because he is able to hit hard enough that he robs his opponents of time. Clay takes this away from him, leaving him at the mercy of opponents who, like Acasuso, are better movers and generally more patient. Acasuso in straight sets.

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