Roger Federer Rocks Robin Soderling To Clinch Semifinal At Barclays

Robin Soderling had his chance to take the first set and the momentum of his must-win match against Roger Federer Thursday at the Barclays in London. 

But like so many opponents over the years, it slipped away and so too, the match. 

Trailing 5-3 in the first set, Federer forced a tie-breaker. Then, down 2-1 there, won four straight points en route to a 7-6(5), 6-3 win to finish round-robin play 3-0 and qualify as Group A's top seed.

It was Federer's 15th win in 16 matches against Soderling. 

The No. 2 player in the world did his best work on first serves, notching points on 35 of his 43.

Soderling had more aces (12 to 11) and fewer double faults. But he missed on chances early, and was never really in the second set to fall to 1-2 in round-robin play. 

Soderling's only chance to advance to the semifinals is for David Ferrer to sweep Andy Murray in today's second match and hope to advance on the tournament's intricate tie-breaker system.

If Murray wins even one set against Ferrer, the Scot will advance to the next round. If Ferrer pulls the upset, he, Soderling and Murray will all finish tied at 1-2, each holding a win over one of the two others.

The first tie-break in this instance is set-percentage won.

If Ferrer sweeps Murray, all three men will have 2-4 set records, forcing the next tie-breaker, games-won percentage to come into play.

Including his loss to Federer this morning, Soderling's game percentage is .453. Murray's is .500 and Ferrer's .366.