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BNP Paribas Masters—Paris, France
No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic dusted the hopes of another Barclays ATP World Tour candidate on Friday, defeating Robin Soderling 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
Soderling, who needed to win the tournament in order to qualify for the London finale, rebounded nicely to take the second set in convincing fashion, only to remain inconsistent in the final set charge.
Soderling's forehand was in good form throughout the encounter, striking a majority of his 23 winners off his one-handed stroke.
The balance for Soderling in terms of winner to error ratio was not upheld however, committing a miserable 39 unforced errors throughout the one hour and 57 minute contest.
By contrast, Djokovic's winner to error ratio was slightly better than Soderling (19 to 29), relying on timely passing shots and more confidence to oust his Swedish foe.
In fact, Sodlering's serving throughout the match, which saw him win 80 percent of his first serve points, was far better than Djokovic's 68 percent of first serve points won.
The No. 9 also converted on 15 of 20 trips to the net, while Djokovic capitalized on four of eight attempts when moving forward.
With emotions riding high during the pair's fifth meeting, a missed volley in the net by Soderling on match point all but ended his sensational year on Tour.
Returning to Paris for the first time since reaching his maiden Grand Slam final in the spring, Soderling will now sit back and hope that an ailing Andy Roddick, who is the sixth qualifier for the London finale withdraws.
Roddick continues to recover from an ailing right knee injury, remaining a question mark for the season ending tournament.
Whatever the case, Soderling would have much rather gained entry into London on his own merit.
With the win, Djokovic improved his Tour-leading match record on the season to 74-18, while increasing his head-to-head career lead over Soderling to 5-0.
Djokovic, who will contest his 15th semifinal of the season on Saturday, will now await winner of the day's second match between No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal and No. 8 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Tsonga, who must defend his title in order to gain entry into London, will take a 3-1 career head-to-head deficit against Nadal during the center court clash.
Tsonga's form this week has been quite uplifting, playing point-by-point, while not looking at the big picture.
Nadal on the other hand, struggled mightily in his first two wins over countryman Nicolas Almagro and Tommy Robredo.
Remaining predominately defensive throughout the event thus far, Nadal's back-court play has resembled his tactical approach to playing on clay: High spin and high margin.
However, when playing on a quick hard court like the one in Paris, a penetrating approach must be taken in order to succeed.
Nadal will also be attempting to aid his countryman Fernando Verdasco by defeating Tsonga. If the Spaniard can dismiss the Frenchman, Verdasco would qualifying for the finals in London.
Nevertheless, nothing short of a dramatic encounter should be set forth by these two entertaining combatants.
Following the Nadal-Tsonga clash, Marin Cilic vs. Gael Monfils will take place, followed by Juan Martin del Potro vs. Radek Stepanek.
Cilic, who defeated Verdasco on Thursday, will meet the flamboyant but erratic Monfils for the first time.
Monfils ousted countryman Julien Benneteau in a routine by scratchy affair on Thursday.
Monfils will be vying to reach his first Masters 1000 semifinal of the season, while Cilic, who has picked up his form as of late, will attempt to reach fifth semifinal of year.
The final encounter of the day will see a interesting contrast of styles between del Potro and Stepanek.
Del Potro, who fought through a monsoon of forehand winners by Fernando Gonzalez on Thursday, trails Stepanek 1-0 in career head-to-head meetings.
The serve and volley Czech poured in a stellar win over Andy Murray in the previous round, using his net touch and backhand up-the-line to offset the Scot.
Gonzalez, who played some of the best tennis of the week against del Potro, pulled up lame after two demanding sets, sustaining a knee injury at the end of set two.
Gonzalez held seven match points against against the Argentine, converting on only one of sixteen break point chances during the two hour and 24 minute battle.
Please check back on Saturday for a semifinal wrap up from the final Masters 1000 event of the year in Paris.
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