ARAG
ATP World Team Championship:
21 - 26 May 2007
Robin is playing for the first time
in the World Team Chanpionship in Dusseldorf. This is a good preparation
for the Roland Garros, as he's guaranteed three matches on clay
against quality opposition.
In the first match against Argentina Soderling gave his country
a 1-0 lead by defeating the on-form Chela 6-1, 6-4. He rolled out
to a 5-0 lead before the Argentine succeeded in getting on the
board.
"I personally didn't have any problems," said Chela. "My problem
was Soderling who took me completely by surprise today."
In the second day the opponent was the Chilean Gonzalez, the highest-ranked
player appearing in the 2007 ARAG ATP World Team Championship.
He managed to recover from a frustrating ending to the first set
that resulted in a double fault and a smashed racquet. He then
broke Soderling to go up 6-5 in the second set and successfully
held serve to get back on track.
Following a rain delay that halted play for about an hour, Gonzalez
quickly produced the tie-clinching win with one break of serve
proving enough to dismiss the Robin.
Soderling relegated the U.S. team
to fourth position in its Round Robin group for the third straight
year as he beat the world No. 8 James Blake, by a 6-3, 6-3 score
in his final match in Dusseldorf. It marked his first victory over
Blake, who defeated him in their previous encounter last year en
route to the Stockholm title.
Blake said: "It is tough. I have just two days left to improve
for the French Open. The positive thing I take from here to Paris
is that I never gave up and served better."
For Robin this was a fine week in
Germany, scoring two wins in three matches against top players.
Good work before the Roland Garros.
| R1 |
W |
Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG) |
4-6, 6-4, 6-3 |
| R1 |
L |
Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) |
6-1, 3-6, 2-6 |
| R1 |
W |
James Blake (USA) |
6-3 6-3 |
|
ARAG
ATP World Team Championship
Dusseldorf, Germany
Surface: Clay
Status: World Team Cup
Prize Money: ˆ1,500,000
Draw Size: 8 teams
Winner: Argentina
Finalist: Czech Republic
Defending Champion: Croatia
Last Year's finalist: Germany
Blue Group
2. Czech Republic
Tomas Berdych, Jan Hajek, Martin Damm
3. Germany:
Florian Mayer, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Benjamin Becker, Alexander
Waske, Michael Kohlmann
6. Spain:
David Ferrer, Nicolas Almagro, Bartolome Salva
8. Belgium: Kristof Vliegen, Olivier Rochus, Steve Darcis
Red Group
1. United States:
James Blake, Mardy Fish, Bob Bryan, Mike Bryan
4. Argentina:
Jose Acasuso, Agustin Calleri, Juan Ignacio Chela
5. Chile:
Fernando Gonzalez, Nicolas Massu, Julio Peralta
7. Sweden:
Robin Soderling, Jonas Bjorkman, Thomas Johansson |
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