Soderling sweeps aside Ferrer to win Swedish Open

Tuesday, 19 July 2011 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Top seed Robin Soderling swept aside the challenge of Spain’s David Ferrer to win the Swedish Open final 6-2 6-2 in Bastad on Sunday.

The Swede, ranked fifth in the world, broke Ferrer’s serve in the first game of the rain-delayed final and never looked back, taking the next game without conceding a point and romping through the first set.

Soderling started the second set in a similar manner, breaking a frustrated Ferrer in the opening game and racing out to a 4-0 lead.

The second-seeded Spaniard fought back strongly, saving a flurry of break points before breaking Soderling in the sixth game to stay in the match.

But Soderling, who lost to Ferrer’s compatriot Nicolas Almagro in last year’s final, struck back immediately, breaking back in the seventh game before serving out for the match as the sunshine finally broke through.

Ferrer, who won the Bastad tournament in 2007 and beat Soderling at the quarter-final stage in 2008, had no answers to the Swede’s punishing ground strokes.

It was Soderling’s fourth ATP victory of the season and his second Swedish Open title.