Soderling Continues Fine Form in London, Ousts Djokovic in Straight Sets

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Barclays ATP World Tour Final—London

Tour finale wildcard Robin Soderling made the best of his status this week in London, defeating No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic, 7-6 (5), 6-1 in the round robin portion of the season ending championships.

Soderling, who had ousted No. 2 ranked Rafael Nadal in straight sets on Monday, needed five set points to capture the opening set.

Djokovic, who saved three set points at 4-5, staved off a subsequent set at 6-4 in the tiebreaker with an unreturnable serve.

Serving his first set point of the set on his serve, Soderling blasted a service winner at 6-5 to lead by a set.

Although Soderling's net play was atrocious throughout the two sets, the Swede managed to maintain stellar serving numbers for the match, striking 10 aces, winning 80 percent of his first serve points and 60 percent of his second serve points, during the one hour and 34 minute affair. 

After bagging a one set lead, Soderling's confidence hit another gear, while Djokovic's listless body language all but ended his day.

Losing his serve on three of five occasions in the second set, Djokovic appeared resigned from the mental fatigue of not capturing the opening set.

The Serb's recent sublime Tour record had included winning back-to-back titles in Basel, Switzerland and Paris, France, as well as well winning a tough opening round robin match against Nikolay Davydenko.

Djokovic, who is the defending champ of the event, will now have to defeat Nadal in Friday's final round robin contest if he is to advance to the semifinals.

Djokovic is also vying to overtake Nadal's No. 2 position in the world rankings with a deep performance in London.

With the win, Soderling became the first player in the event to clinch a semifinal berth at this year's world tour finals. For his efforts thus far, Soderling has pocketed $240,000 in prize money, while moving up a spot in the world rankings to the No. 8 position.

Tuesday's win improved Soderling's year-to-date record against top 10 opponent's to 6-8, while capturing his first career win over Djokovic in six matches.

The Swede will next face Davydenko on Friday, leading the Russian 6-3 in career head-to-head meetings, and 3-1 on the year.

The night session at the O2 Arena will be highlighted by continued struggles of Spaniard Nadal.

The current world No. 2 will battle Davydenko in a must win encounter.

After falling to Soderling on Monday, Nadal needs to defeat Davydenko in order to remain in contention for the weekend's festivities.

The Mallorcan, who is currently riding a two match losing streak, appears mentally frail for the first time in his career.

Resorting to an exclusive array of defensive shots, Nadal's court positioning and shot selection seem to have drifted away from his once first strike game plan.

Davydenko by contrast, has been in sharp form as of late, winning two indoor titles during his fall campaign, while defeating Nadal in the pair's last meeting in Shanghai, China.

Nadal currently leads Davydenko 4-3 in career meetings, but with the way the Spaniard is playing as of late, don't be surprised if he loses his third tour-level match against the Russian.

Thursday's order of play in London will feature:

Andy Murray vs. Fernando Verdasco (Murray leads 7-1 in head-to-head action), while year-end champ Roger Federer vs. Juan Martin del Potro (Federer leads 6-1 in head-to-head action).

With Tuesday's convincing win over Murray, Federer solidified his No. 1 ranking for the fifth time in his career. The Swiss trails only Pete Sampras, who finished the year ranked No. 1 six times during his illustrious career.

“It means a lot to have returned to No. 1 and to finish the year again at No. 1,” said Federer. “It was an incredible year for me both on the court and off the court and to be able to break the all-time Grand Slam record and finish the year on top is amazing.”

Please check back on Thursday for continuing daily coverage from the Barclays ATP World Tour final in London.

Quotes courtesy of theatpworldtour.com.

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