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Robin Soderling, David Ferrer reach Bastad final
By Nick Georgandis
Everyone on court might be in the top 15 of the ATP rankings, but only Robin Soderling and David Ferrer played like it on Saturday at the semifinals of the Skistar Sedish Open in Bastad.
 Hometown favorite Soderling, the No. 1 seed and No. 5 player in the world, whipped third-seeded Tomas Berdych, 6-1, 6-0, the most one-sided defeat of his professional career.
Meanwhile, second-seeded Ferrer crunched fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 6-1, 6-3, to reach his fifth final of the year.
Soderling is in pursuit of his fourth title of the year, reaching his first final since Marseille in late February.
Sunday will mark his third straight year to play in the Basatad final. He won the event in 2009 against Juan Monaco and lost the final last season to Almagro.
On Saturday against Berdych, Soderling saved four break points while in turn breaking Berdych five times in 11 attempts.
Berdych was a miserable 44% on first serves and 42% on seconds, falling to 3-7 all-time against the big Swede. After surging to No. 6 in the world a year ago with his appearance in the Wimbledon final, he's slipped back two spots and is still seeking his first final of the 2011 season.
Berdych's previous worst loss on the ATP tour came in the third round of the 2008 ATP Masters at Paris when he was thrashed 6-1, 6-1 by Nikolay Davydenko.
 Ferrer used five aces and five breaks to ease past Almagro in a battle of countryment.
Like Berdych, Almagro was terrible on his serves, hitting only 40% of first serves for winners, while Ferrer knocked home 71% of his.
Although they are ranked within eight spots of each other, Almagro has been miserable throughout his career against Ferrer, falling to 0-8 lifetime on Saturday.
Ferrer is into his fifth final of the year, but hasn't won a tournament since he took the crown at Acapulco in late February.
Soderling leads Ferrer 9-4 in their all-time series, but this is the pair's first meeting of 2011. They clashed six times in 2010, with each man taking three victories.
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