Soderling vs. Ferrer in Båstad Final

Written by: Staff on 17th July 2011

Swedish Open ATP tennis tournament in Baastad

Soderling vs. Ferrer in Båstad Final

David Ferrer of Spain jubilates after defeating Nicolas Almagro, of Spain during the semifinal match at the Swedish Open ATP tennis tournament in Baastad, Sweden on Saturday, July 16, 2011. David Ferrer won the match 6-1, 6-3. EPA/BJOERN LARSSON ROSVALL ***SWEDEN OUT*** |

World No. 5 Robin Soderling will play World No. 6 David Ferrer in the final of the SkiStar Swedish Open 2011.

Sweden’s number one player is in the final in Båstad for the third time in his career. He lost in last year’s final against Spanish clay specialist Nicolas Almagro. Soderling has already won three tournaments this year in Brisbane, Rotterdam and Marseille.

Robin crushed World No. 8 Tomas Berdych of Czech Repulic in two straight sets 6-1 6-3 in the semi-final. “I thought I returned really well against Berdych today. He has a good and hard serve and I normally return it very well,” Soderling said.

In the other all-Spanish semi-final between David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro, Ferrer came through in a comfortable way winning 6-1 6-3.

Ferrer said after the match, “I’m very happy being in the final. It was a tough match, Nico didn’t play very well but I played focused and safe. I understand the crowd will be on Soderling’s side tomorrow but I want to say thank you for the support throughout the week.”

World No. 6 Ferrer has won the SkiStar Swedish Open once before in 2007 when he took out Nicolas Almagro in the final. Ferrer has will try to win his third title for the year. This year he is the titleholder in Auckland and Acapulco.

Soderling and Ferrer have played each other 13 times and so far Soderling is 9-4. They have played each other four times in Båstad alone.

There will be three Swedes competing in the doubles finals today. Swedish team Simon Aspelin and Andreas Siljestrom came back after being 3-8 down in the match tiebreak against Michail Elgin and Mikhail Kukushkin. The Swedes come through 13-11 in the third set.

Simon Aspelin is playing his last ATP Tour match today. Simon will retire after this tournament. He nearly had to retire during the match due to a tennis elbow injury.

Aspelin and Siljestrom’s opposition will be Wimbledon finalists and top seeds Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau, who overcame Franco Ferreiro and Andre Sa, 6-2 6-3.

The doubles final will start at 12.00 pm today followed by the singles final.