International sports, tennis
O2 Arena, London (GenevaLunch) - Andy Murray looked in excellent form as he swept past Robin Soderling 6-2 6-4 in their round-robin match on the opening day of the end of season ATP World Tour Finals 21 November. Roger Federer also made short work of his match with David Ferrer, winning 6-1 6-4. The winners will meet Tuesday.
Paris, France (GenevaLunch) - Robin Soderling moved up from number 5 to 4 in the world after gracefully putting down Gaël Monfils 6-1, 7-6 Sunday 14 November to win the Paris ATP Masters. It is Soderling’s first ATP Master 1000 title and he is now gunning for a top spot at the O2 in London 21-28 November.
Monfils defeated Roger Federer the day before in a long fight, winning with three tie-break sets in 2 hours, 41 minutes: 7-6(7), 6-7(1), 7-6(4). It was Monfils’s first win over Federer in six encounters.
Links to other sites: ATP tennis, Guardian, Tennis Earth
Sunday’s hot shot, ATP
Flushing Meadows, New York, USA (GenevaLunch) – Swiss tennis star Roger Federer Wednesday evening 8 September solidly defeated his nemesis, Swedish player Robin Soderling, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 in the quarter-finals of the US Open tennis tournament. Tough wind conditions had most players complaining, but Federer said after the match that he enjoys playing in the wind, which gives him the opportunity to play differently.
Links to other sites: US Open video news report, Yahoo news
video, 5 minutes of match
International sports, tennis
Roland Garros, Paris (GenevaLunch) - Rafael Nadal took the French Open crown for the fifth time after briefly lending it out to Roger Federer. In doing so he took revenge on Robin Soderling, the only person to have beaten him at the French. He also took one step closer to the record of another Swede: Bjorn Borg won six times at Roland Garros. Nadal beat Soderling 6-4 6-2 6-4 in a match that had an inevitable feeling about it. No matter what Soderling did Nadal returned with interest in a stunning display of defence followed by counter attack. It did not help that the big Swede’s service let him down: coming into the game he had scored 75 aces in the tournament, Nadal just 12, but in the final the tally was seven each.
The women’s final saw the first victory by an Italian in a women’s Grand Slam tournament when Francesca Schiavone beat Australian Samantha Stosur 6-4 7-6 (2). Stosur had earlier beaten Justine Henin, Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic but in the final she had no answer to the Italian 17th seed’s policy of constant pressure on the backhand. Schiavone’s net attacks won her 14 points to a single dropped point. She was the first woman from outside of the top ten to win the French since 1933.
Links to other sites: Roland Garros, ESPN, Guardian
International sports, tennis
Roland Garros, Paris (GenevaLunch) - Roger Federer was eliminated by Robin Soderling 3-6 6-3 7-5 6-4 in a revenge match dating back to the final of the French Open last year. The Swiss star started well to take the first set but immediately lost his service game in the second and was unable to break back against the big serving Swede. Federer’s loss put an end to his sequence of 23 successive semi-finals in Grand Slam events. Soderling deserved the victory as he dominated a strangely lacklustre Federer and handled the rain breaks better.
Links to other sites: Roland Garros, BBC
International sports, tennis
Roland Garros, Paris (GenevaLunch) -Swiss tennis champion Roger Federer swept past his friend and doubles partner Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3 7-6 6-2 to move into the quarter-final of the French Open Sunday 30 May. He will meet Robin Soderling in the next match. The Swedish player beat Rafael Nadal last year before falling to Federer in the final. In other matches Andy Murray was knocked out 6-4 7-5 6-3 by Tomas Berdych while home favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsongas retired injured against Mikhail Youzhny, meaning there are no French players left in the singles.
Justine Henin won her match against Maria Sharapova 6-2 3-6 6-3. Another ex-number one, Venus Williams, was eliminated by Russian Nadia Petrova.
Links to other sites: Roland Garros, BBC
London, England (GenevaLunch) – Rafael Nadal’s chances of pushing Roger Federer out of the number one slot in tennis faded Monday night when he lost to Robin Soderling 6-4, 6-4 in the ATP World Tour, in the first match of a round robin. Soderling had handed Nadal his first loss on clay at the French Open in Paris in May 2009. Monday’s game had Nadal running all over the court, and after the game Nadal said he hadn’t really had the “necessary calm” to stay on top.
Links to other sites: AP, ATP official site, Guardian
Wimbledon, England (GenevaLunch) - Andy Murray fought his way past Swiss number two Stanislav Wawrinski in a five-set thriller that lasted more than four hours, taking advantage of the new retractable roof that allowed play to continue until the finish at 22:39.
Wimbledon, UK (GenevaLunch) - Wimbledon had a day off for the “middle Sunday” and has not yet had to test the new roof after an unusual absence of rain. In the mens’ draw the dream final of Roger Federer, in search of a record 15th Grand Slam title, against Andy Murray in search of his first, is looking likely.
Update 15:30 Sampras calls Federer greatest player ever
Paris, France (GenevaLunch) – Roger Federer won his first French Open to become only the sixth player in history to win all of the Grand Slam tournaments, after Fred Perry, Don Budge, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson and André Agassi. It was his 14th Grand Slam win, equaling Pete Sampras’s record. He beat the Swedish sensation of the tournament, Robin Soderling, 6-1 7-6 6-4. Sampras told the Guardian Monday that Federer is the best player in the history of the game. He spoke to CNN, saying “I’m so proud right now you can’t believe it” and noting that he’s far from retirement and hopes to play for many more years.
UPDATE 6 June Paris, France (GenevaLunch) – Roger Federer and Robin Soderling each won exciting five set matches to set up a fascinating final for the French Open.
Paris, France (GenevaLunch) - Roger Federer cruised past Gael Monfils to reach his 20th successive Grand Slam semi-final. He took the first set in the tie break and then accelerated to win 7-6 6-2 6-4. He will meet fifth seed Juan Martin Del Potro in his next match as the Argentine disposed of Tommy Robredo 6-3 6-4 6-2. The other semi will be between the star of the tournament so far, Swede Robin Soderling who beat Rafa Nadal and Nikolay Davydenko, and Fernando Gonzalez, who crushed Andy Murray.
In the women’s event Serena Williams went out in a thrilling match against Svetlana Kuznetsova.
