MADRID – Spain’s Rafael Nadal defeated Robin Soderling 7-6 (7-2), 7-5 on Saturday to win an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi, a tune-up for this month’s Australian Open.
With the victory at the Abu Dhabi World Challenge, the world No. 2 got a small measure of revenge for his losses to the Swede at last year’s French Open – his only defeat at that Grand Slam event in five appearances – and at the year-end championships in London in November.
Both players walked a tightrope at the end of the first set, with Soderling saving two break points in the eleventh game before Nadal staved off two set points in the following game to force a tiebreaker, which the Spaniard won comfortably.
In the second set, Nadal kept up his high level of play while Soderling started making more unforced errors and began having problems with his serve.
The Spaniard took control of the match by breaking serve in the sixth game for a 4-2 lead, but then gave Soderling new life by dropping his own serve in the very next game.
Two games later, with Soderling serving at 4-5, the Swede had to fight off three match points after running into problems with double faults.
Soderling managed to get out of trouble and hold serve but in his very next service game, at 5-6, he went down to defeat when he netted a volley.
“It’s been very difficult for me to win singles tournaments over the last six months. It’s always very tough to play against the best but I’m going to try to do it another year. Right now it’s important to begin (the season with a win),” Nadal said during the trophy ceremony.
The 23-year-old lefthander was referring to his struggles in the second half of 2009, when, after losing at the French Open, he was forced to withdraw from Wimbledon with knee tendonitis and then did not win a singles event for the remainder of the season.
He did end the year on a positive note, however, by helping Spain defeat the Czech Republic in the Davis Cup final.
Nadal was complimentary of Soderling, whose ranking has climbed to a career-high No. 8.
“I congratulate him for what he did last season. He’s got great potential and it’s only right that he’s among the world’s top 10.”
Soderling, who defeated world No. 1 Roger Federer in the semifinals, praised the Spaniard’s strong play: “I played three good matches in this tournament, but today Nadal played very well and deserved to win.”
The 23-year-old Spaniard is the defending champion at the Australian Open, which gets underway on Jan. 18.
Source:laht.com/
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