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Soderling To Face Berdych In Swedish Open Semifinals
By James Waterson Photo Credit: Clive Mason/AFP/Getty Images
(July 15, 2011) A day after rain disrupted play yesterday at the SkiStar Swedish Open in Bastad, top-seeded Robin Soderling and the other top four seeds won their matches to advance to the semifinals.
Soderling lost only 10 points on his serve en route to a 6-3, 6-4 victory against eighth-seeded Potito Starace of Italy.
The Swede is attempting to win his second Swedish Open title. He beat Juan Monaco in the 2009 final, but lost to Nicolas Almagro in three sets in last year’s final.
Soderling’s next opponent is World No. 8 Tomas Berdych, who has a total of nine games so far in the tournament.
On Friday, Berdych dismissed 79th-ranked Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia 6-1, 6-4. Soderling has a 6-3 record against Berdych, and he won their last match in the 2010 French Open semifinals in five sets.
In the bottom half of the draw, Almagro, the fourth seed, had to win two matches in one day to advance to the semifinals.
In the morning, Almagro dominated fellow Spaniard Guillermo Olaso 6-2, 6-3, and he went on to beat Michael Ryderstedt of Sweden 6-4, 7-6 (4).
Ferrer is the favorite in this match-up, as he has a 7-0 record against Almagro. Their last match was in Barcelona in April, which Ferrer won in straight sets.
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