Soderling Eyes Title-Double; Monaco Crushes Robredo For Final Berth

© Arne Forsell/BildbyrånJuan Monaco has advanced to nine ATP World Tour clay-court finals.

Swede Robin Soderling will attempt to win the Catella Swedish Open title-double on Sunday.

Soderling, who partners compatriot Robert Lindstedt in the doubles final, will challenge Juan Monaco of Argentina in the singles final. His three ATP World Tour titles have all come on an indoor carpet surface.

The 24 year old won the first all-Swedish ATP World Tour semi-final in almost five years on Saturday, after knocking out wild card Andreas Vinciguerra 6-1, 7-6(6) in 84 minutes.

Soderling, currently a career-high No. 12 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings after he reached the Roland Garros final and Wimbledon fourth round (l. to Roger Federer both times), enjoyed another day of solid serving: winning 92 per cent of first service points and 71 per cent overall against No. 460-ranked Vinciguerra. He improved to 24-12 on the 2009 ATP World Tour season.

Vinciguerra, 28, was attempting to reach his first ATP World Tour final since 2001 Copenhagen (l. to Tim Henman). He is expected to rise to around No. 298 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings on Monday.

World No. 61 Monaco advanced to his eighth ATP World Tour clay-court final after beating third-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo, a two-time former champion, 6-0, 6-2 in just 65 minutes. Monaco avenged his final loss to Robredo at the Copa Telmex, an ATP World Tour 250 tournament at Buenos Aires, in February this year.

The 25-year-old Monaco lost 13 points in the first set, and broke serve six times from 11 opportunities in the pair’s fifth meeting. The duo also met on a clay-court at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament, in April. Robredo won just 39 per cent of service points.

Monaco will next attempt to win his first ATP World Tour title since the 2007 Interwetten Austrian Open Kitzbühel, where he defeated Potito Starace for his third ATP World Tour trophy. This year, Monaco has amassed a 25-16 match record (23-10 on clay).

World No. 16 Robredo, a Bastad titlist in 2006 (d. Nikolay Davydenko) and 2008 (d. Tomas Berdych), drops to 36-15 on the 2009 ATP World Tour season. The 27 year old captured back-t0-back ATP World Tour trophies at Costa do Sauipe (d. Thomaz Bellucci) and Buenos Aires in February.