Robin Soderling is a very good tennis player. He's currently ranked 7th in the ATP Tennis rankings. Soderling has never won a Grand Slam event, but he's currently the only player to beat Rafael Nadal at the French Open. He lost to Roger Federer in the French Open finals last year after beating Nadal, but that was his best Grand Slam finish. He hopped onto the news after an impressive show at Roland Garros in '09 but slowly faded away. Now, he's back in the headlines: for the second year in a row, he's knocked off the defending champion. It took Soderling just four sets to beat Federer in today's quarterfinal matchup.
Federer had been playing great tennis, as he has made it to each of the last eight Grand Slam finals. But Federer won the first set (6-3) and then was outscored in the final three sets 18-12. Soderling, 25, is ranked fifth in this year's French Open, and with his win over the world's best player, he proves why he earned the #5 seed. Before today, Federer hadn't lost to Soderling in 12 matches. He lost more sets today than he had in all of those matches combined (two). The Swede won the final two sets after the one hour, fifteen minute rain delay. He's got a tough task ahead of him, as he faces 15th seeded Tomas Berdych in the semifinals, who beat #4 Andy Murray in straight sets and hasn't lost a set this tournament. I still think Nadal will win it all because of his past domination on clay, but after Soderling's impressive win today, I think he could put uo a fight if he makes it to the finals.
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