Super Soderling stomps Federer on his way to French Open semis

One can take only so much beating. Robin Soderling was defeated 12 times in a row by Roger Federer before making the statement of his life. Soderling was painting lines in his French Open quarter finals to which Federer had no answer whatsoever. He knocked out the World No.1 in four sets with minimal fuss. Few forced screams of come-on's from Federer did not intimidate Soderling who was in top form all through this match.

There was a lot riding on Federer's shoulders heading into this match. His No.1 ranking, his consecutive 23 semi final streak and his total number of weeks at the top as No.1 compared to Pete Sampras'. His No.1 ranking and the total weeks at the top will now depend on Rafael Nadal winning the French Open final on Sunday. If Nadal wins on Sunday, provided if he wins his quarters and the semis, then that could probably signal the end of Federer's stranglehold on the No.1 spot for he has truck load of points to defend going into the second half of the season starting from Wimbledon.


Soderling showed great character to maintain his composure all through the match despite the crowd strongly behind the Swiss master. Everytime Soderling went on to check the ball mark of a service by Federer in the fourth set the crowd began to boo Soderling. The French crowd was rooting Soderling last year when he defeated Nadal in the fourth round but clearly was not the crowd favorite this time when the 16 time Grand Slam champion began his quest to defend his maiden Roland Garros title.

The Swede was dropping 200 kmph services at will and for few Federer was barely able to get the racquet. Even at the baseline slugfest Soderling was clearly over powering Federer which resulted in many forced errors from Federer's racquet. There were no signs of choking while serving for the match from Soderling and he finished the job professionally. He did not celebrate wildly after notching the biggest win of his career. A fist pump and solid stare across the net showed the hidden spunk which he had all along his playing years.

Soderling's coach, Magnus Norman should receive due credit for making Soderling play the way he currently is plus the calm demeanor is yielding good results for the Sweden's player - coach duo.

On a day when Soderling was on song, Federer blinked. When asked about how it was like defeating Nadal in the last year's French Open and Federer at this year's open, Soderling jokingly said, "Yeah, it can't get any better".

Robin Soderling's win today is again an ample evidence of what belief in oneself can do to one's mental make-up. This shows that if one has the burning desire to bring down the top guy in the tour it is absolutely possible even after getting battered and bruised. For Soderling, it has taken 13 attempts to scale the peak. In your and my case all it needs is a dogged determination.