Mornin', everyone. As I mentioned the other day, I am off for a week's vacation on the island of Vieques bright and early tomorrow morning. And I leave you with just three words: Beware. . .Robin . . . Soderling.
In reaching today's final of the ominously named Open 13 in Marseilles, Soderling improved his record in 2011 to a dazzling 16-1; he earned the titles in Brisbane and Rotterdam, and stands poised to strike again in Marseilles. It's easy to overlook Soderling, what with that unexpected loss Down Under to Alexandr Dolgopolov, Milos Raonic's breakout, the return of Juan Martin del Potro, and Andy Roddick's quest for his 30th ATP singles title in his 50th final (he's third to only Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal among active players, which tells you something). But it looks like the momentum this guy began to build back on that cold, gray day in May of 2009 in Paris, where he get the best of Rafael Nadal in the fourth round, continues to accumulate. Its's bound to pay off, big-time, one day soon.
The Memphis final between Roddick and Raonic shapes up as almost a symbolic rite of passage, as the aging Thor of the ATP passes the thunder down to his Canadian understudy. I can't wait to see the serve stats on this one. And what pity that Raonic's countryman, Rebecca Marino, strained an abdominal muscle and had to quit after losing the first set of the Memphis final to Magdalena Rybarikova. Still, you have to wonder of two Canadian players ever before made it to their respective finals in a combined event bigger than, say, the Trois Rivieres 18-and-under hard courts. . .
And in Dubai, Caroline Woznaicki will try to punctuate her reclamation of the the no 1 ranking with a win over Svetlana Kuznetsova. Like Soderling, Kuznetsova's Australian Open ended badly (alhough her epic 16-14 in-the-third, fourth-round loss to Francesca Schiavone is already the stuff of tennis lore and legend. But don't let that deceive you. Kuzzi is due to surprise us all again sometime soon, because this is a young lady who likes to make sure no one is paying attention anymore when she really gets to work. And she's been off the radar for quite a while now.
Anyway, I hope to catch some of the action today in the midst of packing. By the time I get back, we'll be ramping up to Indian Wells and then I'll be traveling to Miami to cover that combined Masters 1000 as per usual. I'm sorry to miss the big exo at Madison Square Garden, but I look forward to reading all about it here at Tennis.com. We'll be all over it, of that you can be sure. Have a great week, everyone . . .
- Pete