Rafael Nadal vs. Robin Soderling: French Open 2011 Quarterfinals Preview

Tuesday, May 31st, 2011 at 10:14 am , filed under French Open by Erik Frenz

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The 2010 finalists in the French Open 2011, Rafael Nadal and Robin Soderling will be clashing early this year in the Roland Garros tournament. The two top seeded finalists’ last year will be clashing on Wednesday, 1st June, 2011 at 09:00 GMT in the quarterfinals of the 2011 French Open tournament which is being held in Roland Garros in Paris, France.

Rafael Nadal, the reigning French Open champion, easily managed to get the better of Ivan Ljubicic in round four at Roland Garros this season and now the world number one finds himself in the quarter-finals of the French Open, a position that he is more than familiar with.

Nadal hasn’t lost a set since his first round clash against John Isner and arguably Rafa remains the favourite to win this competition. That said, Novak Djokovic has been superb this season and many pundits feel that the Serb is the man to beat.

Nadal still has a lot to do before he can think about facing Djokovic however.
His quarter-final opponent at the French Open will be Robin Soderling, the world No. 5. Soderling is a two-time runner-up in this event and appears to present a serious threat to Nadal’s title bid. The Swede has won all of his matches in this competition in straight sets and has every right to be considered as a major contender here himself.

Nadal has a 5-2 head to head record against Soderling prior to this match and a 3-1 record against him on clay. Soderling beat Nadal at Roland Garros in 2009 although Nadal defeated him here in 2010 and 2006. Nadal is considered to be the favourite to win this contest, but it will be intriguing to see what Soderling can do later this week.