Robin Soderling will begin his challenge in Rome with a second round match against Fernando Verdasco

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Robin Soderling is the fifth seed for this season’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia, and was handed a bye for the first round. The Swede will now take on Fernando Verdasco in a second round clash that should attract a big crowd. Soderling is on good form, and put together a decent run in Madrid this month. He’s already won 3 ATP World Tour titles this year, and could be a major contender here in Rome.

Verdasco hasn’t been quite so impressive, and is still searching for his first title of the season. Even so, the world No. 17 can trouble Soderling here,. He’s one of the best clay court players on the tour, and managed to win his most recent contest against the world No. 5.

Soderling holds a 4-2 head to head lead against Verdasco, and more significantly has a 2-1 record against the Spaniard on clay. The two-time French Open runner-up is considered to be the favourite here, but this should be a close match. If both players are on form, this could be one of the tournament’s most exciting showdowns.

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