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SODERLING SURVIVES GONZALEZ GIMMICKS

Robin Soderling’s upset win over Rafael Nadal cleared a path to the French Open final. The player who took advantage: Soderling. The surprising Swede continued his improbable Roland Garros run by beating Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 7-5, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4 in a seesaw semifinal here on Friday.

Soderling let a big lead slip away when he lost his serve in the final game of the third and fourth sets. He fell behind three-love and 4-1 in the final set, but down the stretch came up with the kind of shotmaking that has carried him through the tournament, and he swept the last five games.

“I have very far to go,’’ Soderling said. Federer is trying to complete a career Grand Slam and win his 14th major title, which would tie Pete Sampras’ record. Federer has been beaten at the French Open each of the past four years by Nadal, the four-time defending champion who lost to Soderling in the fourth round on Sunday. Soderling never advanced beyond the third round in his previous 21 major tournaments, and he has never won a claycourt title. The victory over Gonzalez was only Soderling’s fourth in a five-set match.

Before his current streak, Soderling hadn’t won more than two matches at a top-tier tournament since his third career title at Lyon in October 2008. Soderling finally put a run together before the French Open by winning three times in the World Team Cup in Germany. He now has compiled a career-best ninematch win streak.

SAFINA DETERMINED

Dinara Safina hopes that a more ecomomical run to this year’s French Open final will crown her drive to win a first Grand Slam title and silence her critics.

The 23-year-old Russian top seed goes up against compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova in the championship match at Roland Garros on Saturday having lost just one set along the way.
Last year, she arrived in the final against Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic in a depleted physical state having survived punishing three setters in the fourth round and quarterfinals.

The result was a disappointing 6-4, 6-3 loss that left her frustrated and determined to earn a second bite at the cherry this year. “I wouldn’t say I was too nervous last year,” she said after defeating Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals. “It was just that I was tired overall because I had such a tough draw and so many matches I had to pull out,” she said. “This year I’ve spent much less time on the court so I’m much fresher.” Also different for Safina this year will be her familiarity with her opponent. She had played Ivanovic before their final in 2008 but the Serb was still something of an unknown quantity at that level.