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  • Olympics round 1: Gilles Simon vs Robin Soderling

    8/10/08 11:32 PM | David Cox
    - One of the most interesting first round matches. 10th seed Simon stormed up to 13 in the world with his performances on the North American hard courts while Soderling is always a dangerous floater

    Until the end of May, Simon was having a fairly average year and struggling to maintain a ranking inside the top 32. However he scrapped his way to a weak title in Casablanca and exploded into life. He came into his own after Wimbledon, claiming the Indianapolis title with some surprise wins over Tommy Haas and Tursunov (who's always in the mix at that time of the year). The week after he shocked everyone in Toronto with his 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 comeback win against Roger Federer, still grieving over his lost Wimbledon title and went on to make a first masters series semi-final losing an epic to Kiefer 6-7, 6-3, 7-6

    Soderling's ranked 41 but never underestimate him. Any man who pushed Nalbandian to 5 sets in Davis Cup in Argentina is always a player to be reckoned with. He peaked a little to early in the season this year, winning Rotterdam and then making the Memphis final but since then there's been little to write home about. He's always capable of pulling out the odd shock win, he's beaten Robredo, Berdych, Wawrinka, Blake, Youzhny, Tsonga and Roddick this year.

    Soderling has the edge in their head-to-heads, all of which have been indoors so far. He edged a thriller in Zagreb last year 3-6, 7-6, 7-6. However a month later with firm crowd support, on slightly slower carpet courts in Marseille, Simon came through 6-2, 7-6. The tables were emphatically turned by Soderling in Rotterdam this year, he was on fire all week and blasted the Frenchman aside in the semis, 6-2, 6-1.

    Prediction: Simon in 3

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