Robin Soderling, the lowest-ranked player at this week’s ATP tennis finals, continued his run of upsets, defeating No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic in two sets in the group stage.
Soderling, who opened the tournament with a two-set victory over second-seeded Rafael Nadal, won 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 in London today. The Swede is the No. 8 seed in the eight-man, end-of- season event.
“I didn’t enjoy playing today’s match, that’s for sure,” Djokovic said. “He was serving really well. All credit to him.”
Soderling could have had an easier day. He had three set points on the Serb’s serve in the first set, leading 5-4 before he allowed Djokovic to come back and win the game. The set went to a tiebreaker, which Soderling was leading 6-4 when he hit a forehand return long. He hit an ace, one of 10 for the match, to take the set. He broke Djokovic early in the second set and cruised to victory.
Djokovic, the defending champion, said he was fatigued after going to three sets to beat Nikolay Davydenko in his first match. Soderling was added to the tournament when American Andy Roddick’s bad knee forced him to pull out. Soderling, who defeated Nadal in the French Open and lost in that event’s final to Roger Federer, beat the Spaniard in straight sets earlier this week in his first match of the tournament.
He will reach the semifinals if Nadal defeats Davydenko later today.
“He has nothing to lose,” Djokovic said about Soderling. “He won four straight sets, and absolutely deserved to qualify for the semifinals. He’s the best player so far in the tournament.”
