Soderling wins Roddick

Swede Robin Soderling needed 20 aces and two tiebreak to beat top seed Andy Roddick 7-6 7-6 and reach Lyon ATP tournament semi-finals on Friday.

Soderling, seeded seventh in the indoor event, won both tiebreak 7-5 to win in one hour and 23 minutes.

Both players held serve throughout a match in which Roddick fired 22 aces but showed signs of nerves at times, notably when he double-faulted in the second set tiebreak.

Soderling, who won the tournament in 2004, now leads the American 2-0 in career meetings after beating the former world number one in February in Memphis.

“I love it here and I feel capable of winning it again because I’m playing really well at the moment,” warned the Swede, ranked 27th in the world.

Soderling now meets Gilles Simon, who beat wildcard Josselin Ouanna 6-3 7-5 in an all-French quarter-final.

Fourth seed Simon, in his first tournament as a top 10 player after beating Spain’s world number one Rafael Nadal on his way to the Madrid final last week, showed more composure when it mattered.

On a good day for French tennis, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Julien Benneteau also reached the last four, where they will face each other.

Australian Open finalist Tsonga, seeded third here, stepped up a gear after a close first set to oust former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain 7-6 6-1.

Benneteau then thrilled the home crowd by crushing Belgian Steve Darcis 6-3 6-2 in the day’s last match.

Roddick, sixth in the ATP Race standings, did his chances of making next month’s season-ending Masters Cup—featuring the world’s top eight players in Shanghai—no favours with the defeat by Simon.

“He played better than me in the rallies but this was a good preparation for Bercy,” said Roddick, looking forward to the Paris Masters Series tournament starting on Sunday.

“It’s a long season,” he added. “Whoever tells you he’s not tired is lying.”

Simon, who was ninth in the ATP Race at the start of the week, still has a chance of earning a Masters Cup slot.