Odds. All the odds were stacked against Soderling when he took the court on Wednesday night against Roger Federer. Federer is the 5 time defending champion with a 38 match winning streak in Flushing Meadows. He had lost all previous 11 meetings. Hell, he had only won 1 out of 26 sets against Federer. And he was getting absolutely demolished in the first two sets.
But, somehow, the Swede showed a resolve he had not showed in his previous encounters with Federer, and a match that took only 59 minutes to complete the first two sets, he battled back in what turned out to be one of the most compelling matches of the tournament.
Federer got off to an absolutely blazing start, gliding around the court, ripping forehands and attacking the net to blitz Soderling 6-0 in the first set. Playing in extremely gusty conditions, Soderling was clearly the more affected player, leaving several balls in the middle of the court; playing tentative tennis, which is never a recipe of success against the world’s number one.
“I was quite worried going into the match, seeing how much wind was on the court, that I was actually going to hit the ball good,” said Federer. “Then all of a sudden I'm 6-Love, 1-Love up. I don't know what happened, but it's one of those days where everything kind of goes right for you.”
Federer continued to attack early in the second set, forcing 4 break points in Soderling’s first 3 service games. The Swede was able to hold off Federer, but only momentarily, as Federer clinched a break of serve at 3-2 on back to back forehand misses by Soderling. Federer held serve in the following game to consolidate the break, winning the game on a shoestring half-volley winner.
Soderling held for 3-5, but Federer showed no intention of letting Soderling back into the set, clinching the set on his 10th ace.
The third set was a tight affair throughout, with both players failing to capitalize on their chances to take control of the set. Federer had a couple chances to put away Soderling in the first game, but he wiped those away with two monster serves. Federer escaped a similar hole in the 6th game at 2-3, fighting off a pair of break points.
The set went on serve all the way to a tiebreak, and Federer appeared to have the match won, capturing the first 4 points in building up a 5-1 lead. Seemingly down and out, that’s when Soderling showed the guts and high quality tennis that helped him dethrone Nadal at Roland Garros in May. Soderling evened the score at 5-all, following three service winners and a forehand winne
r. Another forehand winner gave Soderling a set point. Federer saved the set point on a wicked crosscourt forehand pass, but Soderling earned another on a forehand winner. Soderling converted this time, painting the lines as Federer’s desperation attempt sailed long.
“There's not much more I could do,” said Federer. “I guess I could have taken maybe the first break point opportunity I had in the beginning of the third, and I should bring it home being up 4-Love in the breaker.
“Those are the missed chances I had. You see how quickly tennis can change around if you don't take those. I think he did well to hang in there, because it wasn't easy after what he had to go through in the first two sets.”
Soderling continued to punish the ball on both wings in the fourth set, often putting Federer on the defensive. His aggressive play earned him opportunities at Love-30 on Federer’s serve at 1-1, and a 15-30 lead at 2-2. Federer wiped away that chance, with a sevice winner, an ace and crisp angled backhand winner.
Both men continued to trade body blows from the back and each played held serve for the remainder of the 4th set to send it into another tiebreak. Both players served huge in the breaker, each totaling two aces and three other service winners. Soderling served one of those two aces to bring him to set point at 6-5 and send the crowd into a frenzy – they were just a point away from playing a 5th set… and no one would have thought that was possible after watching the first two sets. Soderling took a huge cut at set point on a 104 mph second serve from Federer, but his forehand was just wide.
Federer earned his first match point at 7-6 on a backhand error by Soderling and he finally won the match on a Soderling forehand that sailed over the baseline. The Fed Express roles on to a setting he is so familiar with – another slam semifinal.
Linescore
| Federer (1) | 6 | 6 | 6 (6) | 7 (8) |
| Soderling (12) | 0 | 3 | 7 (8) | 6 (6) |
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