Soderling holds off Gonzalez to reach final

Sweden’s Robin Soderling roared into his first Roland Garros final with a heroic 6-3 7-5 5-7, 4-6 6-4 victory over Fernando Gonzalez on Friday. The No23 seed led by two sets, was hauled back, and then staged a thrilling fightback from 1-4 down in the final set to prevail. The calmer, gutsier player won it on the day, resisting a relentless charge by the more experienced Chilean. The two traded early breaks in the first set, before the 24-year-old Swede broke the Chilean again to 4-2 with a huge forehand down the line. In the final game of the set, Soderling nailed a big serve out wide and followed it with a vicious forehand down the line, before watching the No12 seed fly a forehand long on set point. The second set could have told the tale of the contest, as the pumped-up Chilean battled as hard as he could but often appeared a step behind the zoning Swede. With both men serving with authority, there were no break points until 4-4, when Soderling began to play more ambitiously. He was unable to convert any of his three break points however, and the Chilean kept the ball low off his backhand side, crunching his forehand and serves and held to 5-4. Gonzalez had a set point in the next game, but Soderling stood tall and smoked an ace, then quickly seized the momentum in the next game, breaking Gonzalez at the fourth opportunity when, off-balance, the Chilean erred on a forehand and cracked his racket on the ground. The Swede easily held to take the set 7-5 when Gonzalez missed a return of serve. While Gonzalez might have become totally frustrated and lost control, he continued to grind in the third set and it finally paid off, as he matched Soderling forehand for forehand. Never letting down, he gained two break points with Soderling serving at 5-6, returned a ball deeply and saw the Swede commit an uncharacteristic unforced forehand error to give the Chilean the set 7-5. In the fourth set, the 28-year-old Gonzalez blew his top in the ninth game over a questionable line call. After a Soderling groundstroke fell close to the line with the Chilean serving, Gonzalez battled with both the chair umpire and the lineperson, indicating that the latter was pointing to the wrong mark. After losing the battle, he sat down on the clay and wiped out the mark with his backside, possibly an Open Era first. But instead of completely losing his cool, grew even more motivated Gonzalez managed to hold to 5-4 and then broke the Swede to win the set when Soderling hit a forehand wide. Gonzalez raced out to 3-0 lead in the fifth set, but the Swede, who had spent four and a half hours more on court than his foe entering the match, pulled every last ounce of energy to mount a brilliant comeback. Down 2-4, he broke to 3-4. Then after Soderling held, Gonzalez lost his cool again and this time it did for him. The Chilean questioned call after call in the eighth game and he was finally broken when the Swede courageously smoked a backhand return of serve down the line winner. Soderling finally won the 3 hour, 28 minute match with a gorgeous forehand down the line. Soderling has enjoyed an amazing tournament, ousting four time-champion Rafael Nadal, bullying former semifinalist Nikolay Davydenko and then overcoming 2007 Australian Open finalist Gonzalez. Perhaps more remarkably, this is the first time he has won nine matches in a row on any surface. Prior to this current streak, the Swede had not won more than two matches in a row since taking the Lyon title in October of 2008. But the Swede put his nose to the grindstone earlier this year and it has obviously paid off. Soderling became the first Swede to reach the final since his coach, Magnus Norman, did it in 2000. He is looking to become the first Swedish champion here since three-time winner Mats Wilander in 1988.