Analysis for Roddick-Soderling (Lyon)

Head-to-head record 0:1

Robin Soderling of Sweden will face Andy Roddick in Lyon´s quarterfinal. We have already praised both of them and described their playing styles in details. Roddick's style is that of an all-court player. He uses his powerful serve to earn free points or position himself in order to make a forehand winner. He often stays in the baseline after a serve but also serves-and-volleys quite often as well. Soderling´s playing style is also all about killing serve. Powerful serve is his biggest weapon. However, he is better player for long rallies than A-Rod. Soderling missed the Australian Open due to injury. His first tournament he entered in 2008 was the Open 13 Marseille, He reached the Quarter finals. He then reached the final of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament (Rotterdam). His success in Rotterdam carried over, as next week he reached another final at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis, USA. He beat top seed Andy Roddick in the tournament along the way to the final. However he lost another final in 2 weeks as he finished runner-up to unseeded Steve Darcis. After disappointing results in both the Beijing Olympics and the US Open, Söderling decided to break up with his trainer Peter Carlsson. Robin said that he needed a new voice, that could see his game with a different pair of eyes. He is still looking for a new trainer and will announce a new one before the year end. Until then, former Swedish world number 2 Magnus Norman will be Söderling's support. Robin finished runner-up to David Nalbandian in October's If Stockholm Open. He plays his best indoors and it will be very difficult for Roddick to break Soderling´s serve. Roddick´s latest results weren´t as impressive as usual. He reached the semifinal round of the AIG Japan Open where he lost to eventual champion Tomáš Berdych after squandering a 5-3 lead in the third and deciding set. Performances in these tournaments further boosted his stock in the season-ending 2008 Tennis Masters Cup. However, in the third round of the Madrid Masters he lost to Gael Monfils in three sets 4-6, 6-3, 3-6. Saying this, we expect a very tight match where tiebreakers are likely to be played and Soderling is our favourite for tiebreakers. Anything above 2 is good enough for us.