There’s the big four: Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, and Murray.  Then, there are the next two.  Soderling and Ferrer.  While their games aren’t quite good enough to beat the top 4, they are good enough to beat pretty much everyone else.

Soderling does his part supporting the two hometown tournaments.  This one is played outdoors on clay.  Soderling easily beat Berydch in the semis giving up only one game.  Ferrer did nearly as well in the other semis beating compatriot Nicolas Almagro losing only 4 games.

In the final, Soderling only lost 4 games to David Ferrer.  Soderling has been adding more patience to his game perhaps to address the accusation that he’s a one dimensional player.

This is Soderling’s fourth title of the year.  He won Brisbane, Rotterdam, and Marseille earlier in the year.

Juan Carlos Ferrero won in Stuttgart over Pablo Andujar losing only 4 games.