Soderling should not be troubled ahead of the 4th round.
Robin Soderling will look to do some damage at the Australian Open next week, a tournament that the Swedish player has failed in several times in the past. For instance last season Soderling was the highest seed to lose in the first round as Marcel Granollers made good on a comeback effort and beat the Swede in 5 sets, even Soderling won the first two.
This year at the Australian Open, Soderling has what looks to be an easy draw through the first three rounds, an advantage that ought to be afforded to a player of his ranking.
Soderling, ranked 4th, won ATP Brisbane last week by defeating Andy Roddick in the final and in late 2010 the 2-time Roland Garros finalist also took down a Masters shield with a win at ATP Paris.
Soderling will open his 2011 Australian Open against Potito Starace, an Italian player barely inside the top 50. Starace is a veteran on tour but in 5 previous efforts he has never advanced past the first round in Melbourne and a similar statement could be made about Flushing Meadows, the other hard court Slam, as Starace is just 1-7 in US Open main draw matches.
In the second round Soderling would draw a qualifier as luck would have it there are two paired below him in the draw. Those players are not yet determined and one of them could be Grigor Dimitrov, a 19 year old who had an illustrious juniors career.
In the third round Soderling could face no one more talented than Thomaz Bellucci, a player on the rise but one that is much more adept on the clay courts although he would not likely best Soderling even on that surface.
The 4th round, if the seeds held up, would put Soderling against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in what would be a difficult match but only as difficult as you would expect in middle round of a Slam.
Soderling has to be happy with his sixteenth of the draw, if not his eighth, as the hard matches appear to be at least a week away still.
Andy Murray, Marcos Baghdatis, Juan Martin Del Potro, and Jurgen Melzer are in the bottom half of Soderling's quarter but only one of them can survive to the quarterfinal.
Soderling would do well to win his first three matches, all in straight sets, and hope that the other key players in his section endure long, tough, and energy draining contests.
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