Tennis is all about timing, and Rafael Nadal spent much of today’s quarterfinal making Robin Soderling look like a harried commuter struggling to find his footing during rush hour. Dropping the tension in his Babolat strings a bit, Nadal tuned up his forehand and turned in his best performance in Paris this year, sweeping Soderling, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 (3) to roar into the Roland Garros semifinals for the sixth time in seven appearances.
Continuing his quest to equal Bjorn Borg’s record of six French Open titles, Nadal will face fourth-seeded Andy Murray for a spot in the final. All four top men’s seeds have reached the final four for the first time since the 2006 French Open.
There was growing speculation that Soderling, who snapped Nadal’s 31-match Roland Garros winning streak in 2009 and is the only man to beat the King of Clay in Paris, would test the top seed, given that John Isner, another titanic hitter, pushed Rafa to five sets in the first round. Plus, Nadal wasn’t imparting his typically tremendous topspin on the lighter Babolat balls. Nadal nullified any upset hopes by breaking the two-time finalist in his first two service games and capitalizing on 15 sloppy errors to seize the first set in 49 minutes.
Soderling doesn’t exactly evoke memories of Mats Wilander when it comes to making mid-match adjustments. The Swede’s sledgehammer strokes form the foundation for his power-based game, but on a windswept Court Philippe Chatrier, Soderling made no concession to the biting breeze for two sets and insisted on trying to squeeze shots close to the lines. Instead, his down-the-line backhand often strayed wide, sometimes even missing the doubles alley.
Playing crisp combinations and defending with determination, Nadal tore through eight consecutive games in strong-arming Soderling for a 6-4, 6-1, 2-0 advantage. At that point, Soderling’s shoulders sagged like a man who just watched his rental car roll down the hill with all his racquets trapped in the trunk. Soderling made just 43 percent of his first serves in the second set, while Nadal surrendered just four points on his own serve.
The fifth-seeded Swede didn’t give up the fight, though, and broke Nadal for 1-2 when he finally connected on a down-the-line backhand. Staring down double break point in the 11th game, Nadal saved the first on a Soderling error and the second with his third ace. He would erase a third break point with another slice serve and ended the longest game of the match by holding for 6-5.
Soderling lost the plot in the subsequent tiebreaker with four consecutive errors to fall behind 1-4. Nadal slid a slice serve off the sideline, then repelled a demanding drive from Soderling with a whipping forehand winner for match point. He raised his French Open record to 43-1 when Soderling found the net with a final forehand.
Unlike Soderling, Murray owns a strong down-the-line backhand, and it’s a shot he’ll need to hit if he's to prevent Nadal from dictating with his cross-court forehand. Murray took a set from Nadal on clay in Monte Carlo in April, but Nadal owns a 10-4 career edge, including a 3-0 mark in their clay-court meetings.
—Richard Pagliaro