Robin Soderling takes on Marin Cilic in the final of the Open 13 in Marseille on Sunday.
Soderling goes for his ninth ATP title and his third of the year so far. It has been a brilliant start to the year for the Swede and he will be hoping he can take this form into next month's Masters Series events. He defeated Dmitry Tursunov 7-5, 6-1 in the semi-finals, pulling away from 5-5 in the first set to claim seven games in a row as Tursunov fell apart.
“The first set was close; I wasn’t maybe aggressive enough in the beginning,” Soderling reflected. “But then in the second set I was a little bit more aggressive, started to play my own game, and then it was much better. Overall I think it was a good match."
While it was fairly straightforward for Soderling it was anything but for Cilic. The Croatian slipped out of the top 20 last month but he's been looking sharp over the past few weeks and it's paid off in Marseille. He saved match point before sealing his first ever win over Mikhail Youzhny in the semi-finals. It was a dramatic comeback from Cilic who eventually prevailed 6-2, 1-6, 7-5 and Youzhny will be kicking himself after blowing a 5-3 final set lead.
“After winning the first set so comfortably, I knew if I could put my game back together and play in the right way as I did in the beginning that I had a good chance to come back,” Cilic said. “In the second set and the beginning of the third he was playing really good and it wasn’t easy to stay in there and wait for a chance. I had to make some kind of a change, which I did, and it was really good from my perspective that this win comes from a good fight and great mentality.”
Soderling leads 1-0 on the head-to-head but that was on clay last year in the French Open fourth round. This one will be totally different. Expect a close contest but Soderling's serving has been unbelievable over the past few weeks and it will be a surprise if he does not win his second title in a row.
