An accomplished doubles player, Michael Llodra vowed to concentrate more on singles in 2008. It’s already paying off.

Llodra won his second title of the young season on Sunday, defeating Robin Söderling 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-6(4) in the final of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Both players came into this match riding sensational hot streaks, so it was no surprise that the first set proved to be a fiercely competitive one. Neither Söderling nor Llodra faced a single break point and the Swede fired ten aces in the opening frame to help him take it 7-3 in the tiebreaker.

Serves were not as dominant in the second set. Llodra got broken once, but the Frenchman took advantage of both break points he had against Söderling’s serve to level the match.

The decisive third set closely resembled the first. Llodra lost just nine points in six service games and Söderling dropped just seven in that span on his serve, although he did have to fend off one break point. It all came down to just one mini-break in the final tiebreaker. Söderling double-faulted at 3-4 and that allowed Llodra to serve out the match from 5-4 to 7-4. The Frenchman was near-flawless up a net throughout the afternoon and he hit an incredible half-volley to set up championship point. In typical fashion, Llodra closed out the match and the tournament with an un-returnable serve.

Söderling recognized the significance of just one or two points here and there. "In a match like this a few points decide everything,” he said. “Michael played really well on the important points and he deserved to win.”

"It's the biggest title of my career so far," said Llodra, who also captured the season-opening event in Adelaide just last month. "It's for sure one of the best matches I've ever played. I came back from one set down. It's really tough to play against a player like him. I tried to stay relaxed and focus on my serve. That's a great win."

Llodra has not been as dominant in Rotterdam as Söderling, but the Frenchman has been solid throughout his early 2008 campaign. In the past Llodra has been more of a doubles specialist, but heading into this season he vowed to focus on singles. While it would be premature to suddenly recognize him as a consistent singles force, the new attitude is already paying off for Llodra. Reviving the near-extinct serve-and-volley game, the Frenchman has relied on a big lefty serve and a propensity for following that weapon into the net to get him into two ATP finals so far this season. This is his second appearance, having captured the season-opening tournament in Adelaide by defeating Jarkko Nieminen in the title match.

Llodra has been just as impressive this week in Rotterdam. He beat Raemon Sluiter 6-1, 7-6 in the first round, upset second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 7-5 in the second, took out local favorite Robin Haase 7-6, 7-6 in the quarterfinals, then pulled off a 7-6, 7-5 win over Ivo Karlovic to reach the final.

Llodra has lost serve just once this entire tournament and he has not been broken since the first set of his win over Davydenko in the second round. He’ll have to keep that up if he does want to suffer the fate of most players who face Söderling indoors. The Swede is 55-23 in his indoor career compared to just 72-75 outdoors.

Robin Söderling, recently back from a six-month absence, suddenly finds himself in an ATP final after mowing down Gilles Simon in the semifinals of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.

Robin Söderling crushed Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-1 in just 50 minutes on Saturday to advance to the final of the ABN World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Simon came into this match on an unprecedented hot streak. He reached the quarterfinals last week in Marseille and did not lose a single set en route to this semifinal showdown in Rotterdam, but the Frenchman was unable to maintain anywhere close to the same level against Söderling. Simon just could not hang with his opponent from the baseline, but—to his credit—he at least tried to mix things up in order to get back in the match. Coming into the net, however, simply did not work. His volleys were nowhere near good enough for such a tactic to be effective against Söderling.

The Swede, of course, had a lot to do with it. He virtually could not miss with his passing shots and dominated Simon in all other facets of the game as well. As he has been doing all week, Söderling utterly dominated with his serve. He lost just seven points on it throughout the entire match. Perhaps even more impressively, Söderling capitalized on every single one of his five break-point opportunities.

“We played many long rallies, which I had to win,” said Söderling. “Simon is the type of player you have to beat – he simply doesn’t make any mistakes.” While that is being a bit too generous considering his opponent’s deteriorating standard on Saturday, Söderling spoke the truth in that he took advantage of the fact that Simon showed no kind of offensive game and completely dictated play.

In the final Söderling will meet Michael Llodra, a 7-5, 7-6(4) winner over Ivo Karlovic in the semifinals. Llodra will be competing in his second final of the young 2008 season, having already won the season-opening title in Adelaide. This the first-ever head-to-head clash between Söderling and Llodra.

Thumbs Up: Söderling takes a stunning 55-23 indoor match record into Sunday’s final

Thumbs Down: Simon started off poorly and only got worse

Two of the hottest players in this recent hard-court stretch will meet face to face when Robin Söderling takes on Michael Llodra in the semifinals of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.

It’s not a semifinal matchup anyone was looking forward to when the Rotterdam draw first came out, but this contest pits together two streaking players in Robin Söderling and Gilles Simon. They have met twice before, with the head-to-head series split one apiece. Both matches came early last season; the first on carpet and the second on a hard court. Söderling got the best of Simon 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(4) in the first round of Zagreb, then Simon seized revenge two weeks later with a 6-2, 7-6(2) victory in Marseille.

If recent form is any indication, Saturday’s match will bear more of a resemblance to their first, more-thrilling encounter. Both men have been playing outstanding tennis recently, and it’s especially surprising that Söderling is showing this kind of form so soon after returning from injury. A wrist issue kept the Swede out of tennis from last August until last week’s Open 13 in Marseille.

It’s clear, however, that Söderling made the right move by not coming back until he was absolutely ready to do so. In his first tournament of 2008 at the Open 13, he upset Jarkko Nieminen and second-seeded Richard Gasquet before falling to eventual runner-up Mario Ancic in the quarterfinals. Söderling next took his comeback act to Rotterdam, where so far he has taken out eighth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis, Fernando Verdasco, and most recently Andreas Seppi to reach the semifinals. His last two wins were especially impressive. The No. 59 player in the world crushed Verdasco 6-4, 6-1 in just one hour and nine minutes before rolling over Seppi 6-3, 6-2.

While Simon is not coming back from a six-month absence, his recent results have been no less impressive than Söderling’s. The Frenchman has maintained a strong No. 36 world ranking after two solid performances this season despite having to defend title points in Marseille due to his win there last year. After struggling in his first two events of 2008, Simon reached the third round of the Australian Open, where had set points against Rafael Nadal in the first set before squandering the chances and going away in three straight. Simon followed up that nice run with a quarterfinal appearance last week at the Open 13. Included in that stretch was a second-round upset of top-seeded Novak Djokovic. This week Simon has still not lost a set after dispatching Feliciano Lopez, Janko Tipsarevic, and Teimuraz Gabashvili in succession.

Söderling owns the bigger weapons with a powerful serve and forehand that work well on indoor hard courts. Simon, however, is the steadier of the two players and he can frustrate his opponent if the Swede fails to put in a lot of first serves or dictate rallies with his forehand.

Robin Söderling and Gilles Simon score impressive straight-set victories in the quarterfinals of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament to set up a Saturday night semifinal clash.

Although this week’s event in Rotterdam featured eight unseeded quarterfinals and therefore four matchups that would be expected to be relatively even, not one went into three sets. Two of the straight-set winners on Friday were Robin Söderling and Gilles Simon, who will do battle in one of the two semifinal showdowns at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.

Söderling routed Andres Seppi, who was coming in with the momentum of a huge second-round upset over top-seeded Nadal, in decisive 6-3, 6-2 fashion. It was never close. The Swede broke once in the first set and twice in the second and never lost serve, facing just one break point throughout the match. In fact Söderling lost just 12 points in nine service games, including just three in a dominant second set.

Söderling now boasts an incredible 54-23 match record indoors compared with an inferior 72-75 record in outdoor settings.

He will take his stellar indoor clip into Saturday’s semifinal against Simon. The Frenchman won by the exact same score as Söderling: 6-3, 6-2 over qualifier Teimuraz Gabashvili. While the Russian pulled off huge wins out of nowhere in the first two rounds over Juan Carlos Ferrero and Nicolas Mahut, he could not sustain the same level of play against Simon. Instead, Gabashvili slipped back into the form that had him toiling on the Challenger circuit throughout the second half of 2007 and the beginning of this year. Simon took advantage, especially when facing break points on his serve and when getting looks at his opponent’s second serve. He saved all eight break points and won a whopping 16 of 25 points (64 percents) when Gabashvili had to deliver a second offering.

It will be the third head-to-head meeting between Söderling and Simon. The first two both came early in 2007, with Söderling taking the first encounter on the carpet of Zagreb before Simon got revenge two weeks later on the hard courts of Marseille.

Andreas Seppi and Robin Soderling will meet head-to-head for the first time on Friday night in the Rotterdam quarterfinals. It’s a pairing few could have expected considering Rafael Nadal, Lleyton Hewitt, and Marcos Baghdatis were all in that quarter of the draw at the beginning.

While Soderling sent Baghdatis home after a three-set battle in the first round, Seppi dispatched both Hewitt and Nadal in even more dramatic fashion. The Italian saved one match point before taking out Hewitt in a third-set tiebreaker, then recovered from being a set down against Nadal to stun the top seed 6-4 in the third.

Seppi’s surprising results in Rotterdam have not come completely out of nowhere. In fact, he is playing the best tennis of his life at the moment. The 24-year-old (he celebrated his birthday on Thursday with the win over Nadal) reached a career-high ranking of No. 40 just last week and now he stands at 42^nd in the world. Early-season highlights in 2008 include a win over eventual Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Adelaide and a Challenger title in Bergamo, Italy that featured victories over Teimuraz Gabashvili (already a quarterfinalist here in Rotterdam), Fabrice Santoro, and Julien Benneteau. Seppi also advanced one round at the Australian Open before losing in a fourth-set tiebreaker to Mikhail Youzhny.

Soderling has not had the benefit of playing as much tennis as his opponent this season due to a wrist injury kept him out of tennis from last August until last week’s Open 13 in Marseille. Despite that, if Seppi is hot right now, Soderling is simply on fire. The Swede upset Jarkko Nieminen and second-seeded Richard Gasquet at the Open 13 before falling to eventual runner-up Mario Ancic in the final. After taking out Baghdatis in the first round in Rotterdam, Soderling enjoyed the most dominant performance of his comeback on Thursday against Fernando Verdasco. He crushed the Spaniard 6-4, 6-1 in just one hour and nine minutes.

Seppi, of course, has been extremely impressive this week in coming back from the dead against Hewitt and then dominating Nadal from the baseline in the last two sets of that match. Nonetheless, those two victories came of players who either have no real big weapons (Hewitt), or weapons that are depleted on hard courts (Nadal). Soderling, however, owns a huge serve-and-forehand combination that can be lethal on the indoor hard courts of Rotterdam. If the Swede is serving well, Seppi will be dealing with something he did not see in his matches against Hewitt and Nadal. Getting a lot of looks at second serves, however, would allow Seppi to work his way into baseline rallies. If the win over Nadal is indication, that would be a scary proposition for Soderling.

When Gilles Simon faces Teimuraz Gabashvili in Friday’s nightcap at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands, it will be the third time that the two unseeded quarterfinalists have met head-to-head. Their two battles have both been contested on clay, the first in 2006 at the Monte-Carlo Masters Series and the second in Valencia last season. Simon holds a 2-0 lead over the Russian; he won 6-4, 6-2 in Monte-Carlo before prevailing 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in a much tougher test in Valencia.

Clay gives the Frenchman a bit of an advantage, so it’s not too surprising that he enjoys a 2-0 edge over Gabashvili on the dirt. This time, however, they will clash on the indoor hard courts of Rotterdam. While this is the surface that probably best levels the playing field between these two players, it is becoming clearer by the day that Simon is extremely dangerous on hard courts. The Frenchman is up to No. 36 in the world after two solid performances this season. He reached the third round of the Australian Open, where had set points against Rafael Nadal in the first set before squandering the chances and going away in three straight. Simon followed up that nice run with a quarterfinal appearance last week at the Open 13 in Marseille. Included in that stretch was a second-round upset of top-seeded Novak Djokovic.

Things have not been going as smoothly for Gabashvili, so his hot streak here comes in completely unexpected fashion. The Russian got as high as 71^st in the world back in March of last year, but he is down to No. 132 at the moment. Gabashvili played in just one ATP level tournament in 2007 prior to this week. In Chennai, India he was erased by Carlos Moya 6-4, 6-1 in the first round. Between then and now he toiled on the Challenger circuit, where he did not progress past the second round in any of three events.

Gabashvili, however, does not lack potential. He enjoyed a nice run on the U.S. hard courts last spring and he posted his biggest win ever at the 2007 U.S. Open by defeating Fernando Gonzalez in five sets in the first round. That potential is reemerging this week in Rotterdam. Gabashvili upset Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-1 in the first round and then took out Nicolas Mahut 6-2, 7-6 in the second. Also keep in mind that he had to win two matches in qualifying just to get into the main draw.

The key for Gabashvili on Friday is to get off to a good start. Simon is playing with a great deal of confidence right now and he is more accustomed to the bigger stages of tennis (such as a quarterfinal night match) than his opponent. If the Russian falters early due to the pressure, Simon could grab an early lead and never look back. On the other hand, if Gabashvili comes out playing like he has in his four previous matches in Rotterdam and sinks his teeth into this match, it will be anyone’s ballgame.

Unseeded Andreas Seppi comes back from a set down to upset Rafael Nadal and advance to the quarterfinals of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Before this second-round battle concluded, Rafael Nadal was the only seeded player left standing at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.

Now none remain. Rotterdam will be without a single seed in the quarterfinals after Seppi shocked Nadal 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday afternoon in two hours and fourteen minutes. It is the first time since the 2002 event in Buenos Aires that every seed in an ATP tournament has lost prior to the quarterfinals.

In the first set, it looked like that would not be the case. Nadal won half of Seppi's service points and he broke the Italian twice in four chances. After a routine 6-3 opening frame, it looked like Nadal had the match in hand.

Seppi had other ideas. He put in much higher percentage of his first deliveries in the second set and lost just four points on serve. The tide also turned from the baseline. Nadal's heavy topspin forehand did not have the same effect on Seppi as it did in their two previous head-head meetings, as those came on clay with Nadal dominating both. In the second set on the indoor hard courts of Rotterdam, Seppi began stepping into the court and taking it to Nadal in groundstroke rallies. He capitalized on the one break point chance he saw in the second set to take it 6-3 and level the match.

It was more of the same in the third set. Nadal's first-serve percentage plummeted and Seppi jumped all over his opponent's second offerings, allowing the underdog to seize a quick 5-2 lead. Facing the pressure of finishing off the top seed, Seppi gave one of the breaks back after a marathon game that saw Nadal survive two match points. Seppi, however, closed the deal in his next service game to take the set and the match 6-4.

After scoring the biggest upset in what has been a surprise-filled tournament, Seppi advances to the quarterfinals where he will face either Fernando Verdasco or Robin Söderling. Seppi is 0-4 against Verdasco and he has never faced Söderling.

Thumbs Up: Seppi capitalized on four of eight break chances

Thumbs Down: Nadal is now without a title in three hard-court events this season

Thumbs Up: Llodra handled the pressure moments incredibly well, converting all three of break point chances and coming back from 0-40 down in the final game

Thumbs Down: Davydenko lost serve twice in the first set despite missing just two first serves

A drastic difference in style will be on display at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands when Nikolay Davydenko and Michael Llodra do battle in a second-round contest.

Second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko enters his fifth career matchup with second-round opponent Michael Llodra boasting a perfect 4-0 head-to-head match record. Not only is the Russian 4-0 in their meetings, but he has not even dropped a single set. Through two best-of-three matches and two best-of-five tilts, Davydenko has captured all 10 sets contested. Most recently, in fact just one month ago at the Australian Open, Davydenko erased the Frenchman in a first-round clash 7-5, 7-5, 6-3. Two of Davydenko’s wins came on hard courts and the two others were on clay

Even though these two players could not contrast more significantly in their styles of play and it would easy to see how each could give the other one trouble, it should not come as a big surprise that Davydenko dominates their head-to-head meetings. Llodra, more of a doubles specialist, relies on a big lefty serve and he loves to follow his weapon into the net. The serve, meanwhile, is by far the worst aspect of Davydenko’s otherwise rock-solid game.

In matches involving Davydenko, there are almost always an unusual number of service breaks simply because the Russian’s return is impeccable but his serve is not one that allows Davydenko to gain easy holds. Llodra, however, is not strong enough from the baseline to jump all over Davydenko’s week service offerings. Davydenko, on the other hand, loves nothing more than to see his opponents rush into the net after a serve because the return and the passing shot are two of his biggest weapons.

Nonetheless, all is not grim for Llodra. He is anything but consistent as a singles player, but he does have the talent to enjoy some hot streaks. Seemingly out of nowhere, for example, the Frenchman won the title at this year’s season-opening tournament in Adelaide. That run to the winner’s circle included an impressive straight-set destruction of Jarkko Nieminen in the final.

Davydenko, meanwhile, is a model of consistency. Almost never does he pull off the necessary big wins over top players in order to win big tournaments, but rarely does he lost early in an event. A second-round exit in Rotterdam would qualify as both early and unexpected. Don’t count on it, though. Davydenko has played two tournaments (Doha and the Australian Open) in 2008 and he won three matches at both. Anything less in Rotterdam would be a surprise.

Rafael Nadal is the top seed at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands this week, but that doesn’t mean he gets any favors from the draw. In the first round Nadal has to go up against 33^rd-ranked Dmitry Tursunov.

Along with the already-completed clash between Marcos Baghdatis and Robin Söderling, the showdown between No. 1 seed Rafael Nadal and Dmitry Tursunov looks like the best pairing of the first round at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament. On clay this matchup would unquestionably be a lopsided affair, with the clear edge in Nadal’s favor. On the indoor hard courts of Rotterdam, however, it could be anyone’s match to win.

This is the first time Nadal and Tursunov have met head-to-head. That comes as a big surprise considering this is Nadal’s eighth year on the ATP Tour and Tursunov even turned professional one season earlier than Nadal, and both players almost always play multiple matches at every tournament they enter. Yet somehow their paths have never crossed.

Since no head-to-head history exists between these two competitors, recent form will have to be the indicator for what is expected when Nadal and Tursunov do battle in Wednesday’s night session in Rotterdam. The Spaniard, still ranked second in the world behind Roger Federer in the world rankings, has played two tournaments this year. In what is a good sign for his prospects this week at the ABN AMRO, both of those tournaments were held on hard courts and the 21-year-old achieved success at both. Nadal was runner-up (lost to Mikhail Youzhny) in Chennai and then reached the semifinals of the Australian Open (lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga).

Tursunov has always been an up-and-down player and his 2008 campaign has been no different so far. The 25-year-old won one match at the season-opening event in Doha and got a walkover into the third round before bowing out to compatriot Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets. Tursunov then caught fire the next week in Sydney, where he captured the title while losing just one set in five matches. Victims included Stanislas Wawrinka in the first round and Richard Gasquet in the second. The success was short-lived, however, as Tursunov suffered a disappointing setback to American Sam Querrey in the second round of the Australian Open.

The Russian sometimes just doesn’t show up, but he can just as easily catch fire at any time and his talent is undeniable. Tursunov is a dangerous opponent—especially in the first round—and if his monstrous forehand is working, Nadal could have some trouble. Playing on indoor hard courts is definitely an advantage for Tursunov, as his big serve and flat, punishing groundstrokes will be more effective on a slick surface, while Nadal’s heavy topspin balls will not take the same toll on opponents as their high bounces do on clay.

The nightcap of Wednesday’s play at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands does not feature two of the biggest names in tennis, but it should produce a highly-entertaining and evenly-matched affair. Janko Tipsarevic and Gilles Simon are set to do battle after scoring impressive opening-round victories.

Not well-known heading into the 2008 season, Janko Tipsarevic quickly made a name for himself at the Australian Open. The Serb, often overshadowed by compatriot, won two matches Down Under before it was a loss that really put him in the spotlight. Tipsarevic met world No. 1 Roger Federer in the third round and the result was a showdown for the ages. After four hours and 25 minutes and 18 games played in the final set alone, Federer finally prevailed 10-8 in the fifth. It was not, however, before Tipsarevic put on a spectacular display of shot-making and won over a horde of supporters in the process.

Simon has been a consistently solid performer on the ATP Tour over the last two full years, but he is still searching for one marquee moment in his career with which to truly announce himself as a serious force to be reckoned with on a weekly basis. The Frenchman did, however, enjoy a breakout of sorts last year. Entering the season with just one runner-up finish on his resume, Simon won two titles in 2007; the first on the indoor hard courts of Marseille, France and the second on clay in Bucharest, Romania.

Simon failed to defend his Open 13 title last week, but he still managed to reach the quarterfinals and he took out top-seeded Novak Djokovic in the process. In three other tournaments this season, Simon suffered a first-round defeat in Adelaide to compatriot Michael Llodra, lost to Tomas Berdych in the second round of Sydney, and won two matches at the Australian Open before falling to Rafael Nadal in straight sets. He rolled over Feliciano Lopez in Rotterdam on Monday.

All things being equal, this match looks like a toss-up on paper. Tipsarevic is ranked 44^th in the world while Simon comes in at No. 36, both contestants are playing solid if not spectacular tennis at the moment, and both can get it done on hard courts. The deciding factor on Wednesday could be the Serb’s health. While Tipsarevic looked 100 percent in Monday’s upset win over defending champion Mikhail Youzhny, he has endured a recent injury problem. He missed Serbia’s first-round Davis Cup loss to Russia two weeks ago with a right thing injury and had to retire in his first match at a Challenger event in Belgrade just last week.

If Tipsarevic is healthy—and by all indications he is—we have an outstanding matchup on our hands for the last clash on Day 3 of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.