Top seed Robin Soderling faces his toughest test of the week against former Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych at the Skistar Swedish Open.
Soderling looked sharp again in a 6-3, 6-4 quarter-final win over Italy's Potito Starace, producing an impeccable serving performance. Starace has a terrible record against top 20 players but he's still very dangerous opponent on clay and the top seed was relieved to get through in straight sets.
Berdych is a two-time runner-up at this tournament and the Czech is determined to finally get his hands on the trophy. He looks in the mood this week and destroyed Slovenia's Blaz Kavcic 6-1, 6-4 to set up the clash with Soderling.
Berdych was not particularly happy with the slow, damp conditions early this week but that actually suits both men quite well, both punishing strikers of the ball from the back of the court.
Soderling has the better clay-court record with those two French Open finals behind him and he won this title in 2009. Add to that home advantage and a 6-3 head-to-head record and the odds look to be favouring the Swede.
However he will not have it easy going by some of their past encounters. Soderling beat Berdych in a thrilling five setter in the semis of last year's French Open - 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. If we get a repeat of that today, the Bastad crowd will be in for a treat.
