Giant-killer Soderling stuns Roger Federer

PARIS – Lightning did strike twice at the French Open on Tuesday. One year almost to the day that Robin Soderling stunned the tennis world by becoming the first man to defeat Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros, the Swede fired another bolt of electricity as he downed the great Roger Federer.

His 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 win meant that for the second straight year he had beaten the world number one and defending champion in Paris and now he moves on to a semi-final against Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic tomorrow. How do the two huge wins compare? Soderling has no ready answer.’It’s a tough question,’ he said.’I think they’re both big wins, of course. They were both No.1s. They’re different players, and I’m really happy that I showed that I can beat them both.’But again, I don’t think about it that much. Of course I lost a lot of times (12 times to Federer), so it’s a great feeling to finally end that streak.’But still, you know, I don’t think about who I beat. What matters is that I won and that I won quarter-finals in a Grand Slam and I get the opportunity to play semi-finals in two days, which is great.’The match against Federer was played out on a Philippe Chatrier centre court under cold, rainy conditions, eerily similar to those that marked his win over Nadal last year. If anything they were worse with a 75-minute rain interruption at one set all and 5-5 in the third. But being from Sweden, Soderling said that he had no difficulty dealing with what the heavens served up in terms of rain and cold.’The balls got heavy,’ he said. ‘I think I play good matches in these kind of conditions in the past, and I think it suits my game pretty well.’It was a little bit slower, but I managed to serve really well and take the ball early. It helped me a lot.’What remains now for the Swede is to push on from his destruction of Federer and actually win his first Grand Slam title. First up will be Berdych, a player he knows well and who has a similar game to himself based on a big serve and a booming forehand. Soderling leads their head-to-head series 4-3, but he was badly beaten 6-2, 6-2 in their last meeting at the Miami Masters in April before the Czech player went on to reach the final.The Swede says that will have no relevance for Friday.’The match before that I beat him 1 and 1,’ he said, although the actual result in Kuala Lumpur last year was 6-2, 6-2 in favour of Soderling.’I know every match is a new match, and he played great this year. He’s a dangerous player when he’s playing good.’So of course it can happen, but I’m expecting a tough match.’After that it could get even more complicated as his projected opponent in the final would be none other than Nadal, who will be out for revenge for last year. – Nampa-AP

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