BASTAD FINAL PREVIEW – SODERLING, FERRER RESUME RIVALRY, MEET IN FIRST FINAL

The top two seeds, Robin Soderling and David Ferrer, resume their rivalry in the final at the SkiStar Swedish Open on Sunday. This will be the sixth straight year and seventh in past eight the Swede and Spaniard square off. Soderling leads the head-to-head series 9-4, including four of six meetings last year. This is the first time they are playing each other in an ATP World Tour final. It’s also their fourth meeting in Bastad. Soderling won in 2006 (2nd Rd.) and last year (SFs) while Ferrer won in ’08 (QFs). Both players have lost serve once this week.

This is the first No. 1-2 seeded final in Bastad since 2006 when No. 2 Tommy Robredo defeated No. 1 Nikolay Davydenko. Two weeks ago, then No. 2 Novak Djokovic d. No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon final.

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In Soderling is appearing in his third straight Bastad final. The top Swede, who won the title two years ago (d. Monaco) and was runner-up last year (l. to Almagro), owns a 21-8 career mark in Bastad. Soderling is trying to earn his fourth ATP World Tour title in as many finals this year. He’s also attempting to even his career mark in ATP World Tour level finals (9-10). Soderling is 37-9 on the season (15-5 on clay).

Ferrer, who won the Bastad title in 2007, is making his fifth ATP World Tour final (2-2) showing of the year. Last weekend he posted a pair of Top 10 wins over Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish in the Davis Cup quarter-finals in Austin, Texas. Spain won the tie 3-1 and will next take on France in the semi-finals in September. Ferrer is aiming to even his career mark in ATP World Tour finals (11-12). He is 39-10 on the year (22-5 on clay).

WHAT’S AT STAKE
Winner   €72,600 and 250 South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking points
Runner-up  €38,200 and 150 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points

FINALS HISTORY
Soderling Is appearing in his 20th career ATP World Tour level final…..9-10 in career (3-0 in 2011)
Ferrer  Is appearing in his 24th career ATP World Tour final………...11-12 in career (2-2 in 2011)

2011 ATP WORLD TOUR TITLE LEADERS
1. Novak Djokovic 8
2. Nicolas Almagro 3
Rafael Nadal 3
Robin Soderling 3
5. David Ferrer 2
Juan Martin del Potro 2

SUNDAY CHAMPIONSHIP FED-EX HEAD 2 HEADS –

(1)Robin Soderling (SWE) vs (2) David Ferrer (ESP) Soderling Leads 9-4
04 ATP Masters Series Miami (U.S.A.) Hard R128 Robin Soderling 7-6(5) 6-4
04 Nottingham (England) Grass R32 Robin Soderling 7-6(5) 3-6 6-2
06 Bastad (Sweden) Clay R16 Robin Soderling 6-3 6-1
07 Dubai (U.A.E.) Hard R32 Robin Soderling 7-6(13) 6-1
07 ATP Masters Series Hamburg  Clay R32 David Ferrer 1-6 6-3 6-2
08 Bastad (Sweden) Clay QF David Ferrer 7-5 6-7(3) 6-1
09 Roland Garros (France) Clay R32 Robin Soderling 6-7(5) 7-5 6-2 7-6(5)
10 Wimbledon (Great Britain) Grass R16 Robin Soderling 6-2 5-7 6-2 3-6 7-5
10 Bastad (Sweden) Clay SF Robin Soderling 4-6 6-3 6-2
10 Beijing (China) Hard QF David Ferrer 6-2 6-4
10 ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai  Hard R16 Robin Soderling 7-5 6-4
10 Valencia (Spain) Hard SF David Ferrer 6-3 3-6 6-3
10 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals  Hard RR Robin Soderling 7-5 7-5

                                         Robin Soderling      David Ferrer
Sets Won:                                             23                       13
Tiebreak Sets Won:                                 5                        1

Match Wins By Surface:
Clay:                                                      3                        2       
Hard:                                                     4                        2
Grass:                                                    2                        0
 
Soderling FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
W: Brisbane (d Roddick); Rotterdam (d Tsonga); Marseille (d Cilic); QF: Estoril (l Del Potro); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid (l Federer); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rome (l Djokovic); Roland Garros (l Nadal)
YTD W-L: 37-9 (15-5 on clay)
YTD Titles: 3/Career Titles: 9
Date of Birth: August 14, 1984
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 5

* Soderling, 26, the top Swede is appearing in his third straight final in Bastad…He has a 21-8 record…Two years ago he captured the title (d. Monaco) last year he was runner-up (l. to Almagro)
* He’s only lost nine games in three matches en route to the final and he leads the tournament in first serve pts. won (77%), second serve pts. won (68%) and return games won (62%, 13 of 21 games) and is No. 2 in service games won (96%, 23 of 24)
* He jumped off to a career-best 18-1 start in first two months of the season, winning a personal-high three ATP World Tour titles in Brisbane (d. Roddick), Rotterdam (d. Tsonga) and Marseille (d. Cilic)…Since then has a 19-8 mark and looking to earn his first title since February
* Has a 9-10 career record in ATP World Tour level finals (1-4 on clay) and his lone clay title came here in ‘09

Ferrer FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
W: Auckland (d Nalbandian); Acapulco (d Almagro); F: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo (l Nadal); Barcelona (l Nadal); SF: Australian Open (l Murray); QF: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (l Fish); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid (l Djokovic); Nice (l Dolgopolov)
YTD W-L: 39-10 (22-5)
YTD Titles: 2/Career Titles: 11
Date of Birth: April 2, 1982
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 6

* Ferrer, 25, the No. 2 Spaniard in the South African Airway 2011 ATP Rankings, behind No. 2 Nadal, is making his fifth ATP World Tour final showing (2-2) of the year
* He won titles in Auckland (d. Nalbandian) in January and Acapulco (d. Almagro) in late February…Also runner-up to Nadal in ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo and Barcelona
* He has a 14-4 career mark in Bastad and this is his second final in six visits…He won the title in 2007 (d. Almagro) and reached the semi-finals in ’08 and last year
* He leads the tournament in service games won (24 of 25, 96%) and is No. 2 in break pts. saved (8 of 9, 89%), second serve pts. won (67%) and return games won (12 of 25, 48%)
* He comes in with a 39-10 match record (22-5 on clay) and last weekend he led his country to a 3-1 Davis Cup quarter-final victory over the U.S. in Austin, Texas by posting Top 10 wins over Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish
* Has an 11-12 career record in ATP World Tour finals (6-9 on clay), winning at least one title in five of the past six years (except ’09)

DOUBLES FINAL – (1) Lindstedt/Tecau (SWE/ROU) vs. Aspelin/Siljestrom (SWE/SWE)
• Top seeds Robert Lindstedt of Sweden and Horia Tecau of Romania will meet the first-time Swedish pairing of Simon Aspelin and Andreas Siljestrom in Sunday’s doubles final.
• Lindstedt-Tecau reached their fifth tour-level final of the year (1-3) on Saturday as they dismissed Brazilians Franco Ferreiro and Andre Sa 6-2, 6-3 while their Swedish opponents saved two match points in the decisive match tie-break to beat Michail Elgin and Mikhail Kukushkin 3-6, 6-3, 13-11.
• The Swedish-Romanian duo are looking to retain their title in Bastad. They are currently fifth in the 2011 ATP Doubles Team Rankings after stellar performances in the first six months of the season. They were finalists at Wimbledon for the second year in a row (l. to Bryans), won the Casablanca title (d. Fleming-Zelenay), and reached finals in Brisbane (l. to Dlouhy-Hanley) and ‘s-Hertogenbosch (l. to Bracciali-Cermak).
• They have a 54-29 career match record together (5-4 in finals) since first teaming up in Miami in March 2010. Lindstedt is 11-11 lifetime in finals while Tecau is 8-6.
• The 37-year-old Aspelin is set to retire from tennis after Sunday’s final and will look to bow out by winning his 13th tour-level title and third trophy in Bastad, following victories in 2003 (w/ Bertolini) and 2007 (w/ Knowle). Meanwhile, the 29-year-old Siljestrom is through to his first ATP World Tour final.

STUTTGART FINAL PREVIEW - FERRERO AND ANDUJAR IN FIRST ALL-SPANISH FINAL IN STUTTGART

Both finalists were pushed to 6-4 in the third set in the semi-finals and now they’ll need to recover if they want to lift the trophy at the Mercedes Cup, an ATP World Tour 250 tournament on the clay courts of Stuttgart. This is the first all-Spanish final in Stuttgart since 1979. Whoever wins on Sunday will become the seventh different Spaniard to win this title, joining Jose Higueras (1983), Alberto Berasategui (1994), Alex Corretja (1997), Rafael Nadal (2005 and 2007), David Ferrer (2006) and Albert Montanes (2010).

Playing in just his third tournament of the year, former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero has shown he still has what it takes to make it big on the ATP World Tour, defeating - among others - Top 20 Mikhail Youzhny, who was the No. 3 seed, to reach the final here. The Spaniard also came back from a set and a break down to beat Argentine rising star Federico Delbonis in the semi-finals. He will now play his 34th ATP World Tour final. He is 15-18 in finals, ranking him eighth among active players (see chart below).

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After putting together his first Top 100 season in 2010, 25-year-old Spaniard Pablo Andujar is having an even better 2011, winning his first ATP World Tour title in Casablanca and now reaching his third career final here in Stuttgart. He cracked the Top 50 for the first time earlier in the year (he has since fallen back to No. 55). Andujar hasn’t had to face a seed yet this tournament but has taken out some very accomplished players en route to this round, most notably defending champion Montanes in the second round.

WHAT’S AT STAKE
Winner   €68,850 and 250 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points
Runner-up  €36,250 and 150 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points

FINALS HISTORY
Ferrero - 34th career ATP World Tour final - 15-18 in finals (12-9 in clay court finals)
Andujar - 3rd  career ATP World Tour final  - 1-1 in finals (1-1 in clay court finals)

ACTIVE ATP WORLD TOUR TITLE LEADERS
1. Roger Federer  67
2. Rafael Nadal   46 
3. Andy Roddick  30
4. Lleyton Hewitt  28
5. Novak Djokovic  26
6. Nikolay Davydenko  21
7. Andy Murray   17
8. Juan Carlos Ferrero 15

SUNDAY CHAMPIONSHIP FED-EX HEAD 2 HEAD

Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP) vs Pablo Andujar (ESP) Andujar Leads 1-0
07 Barcelona (Spain) Clay R32 Pablo Andujar 2-1 ret.

Ferrero FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
QF: Barcelona (l Almagro)
YTD W-L: 7-2 (7-2 on clay)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 15
Date of Birth: February 12, 1980
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 85

• Playing third ATP World Tour event of year; in mid-April reached QFs in Barcelona (l. to Almagro) then fell 1st Rd. at Madrid two weeks later (l. to de Bakker); missed next two months with wrist and knee injuries
• Third appearance here (8-2 record); reached QFs in 2007 (l. to Lopez) and SFs in 2010 (l. to Montanes); 4-0 so far this year (d. LL Knittel, No. 3 seed Youzhny, Granollers and qualifier del Bonis in first four rounds)
• Leads tournament in second serve pts. won (62%) and No. 4 in break pts. saved (71%, 22 of 31)
• Former World No. 1 (spent 8 weeks at No. 1 from September 8 to November 2, 2003)
• He is appearing in his 34th career ATP World Tour level final…Has a 15-18 career record and last year won three ATP World Tour titles, the last coming in Umag in August 2010

Andujar FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
W: Casablanca (d Starace); QF: Costa Do Sauipe (l Mello); Nice (l Almagro)
YTD W-L: 18-15 (16-9 on clay)
YTD Titles: 1
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: January 23, 1986
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 55

• Playing second ATP World Tour final of year (other final, won title in Casablanca) and third of his career (runner-up in Bucharest last year, l. to Chela). came into Stuttgart on four-match losing streak (fell 2nd Rd. at Roland Garros and 1st Rd. at three tournaments since)
• Third appearance here (5-2 record); fell 1st Rd. in 2009 and 2nd Rd. in 2010; 4-0 so far this year (d. qualifier Criovoi, Montanes, WC Stebe and Kubot in first four rounds)
• Leads tournament in return games won (23 of 45, 51%) and return pts. on second serve (66%) and No. 3 in break points converted (23 of 36, 64%)
• Has an 18-15 match record on the season (16-9 on clay) and coming into this year had a total of 15 match wins between 2007-10
• Career-high is No. 48 (set April 25, 2011)

2011 ALL-SPANISH FINALS – This is the fourth all-Spanish final on the ATP World Tour this year:

Acapulco – David Ferrer d. Nicolas Almagro
Monte Carlo – Rafael Nadal d. David Ferrer
Barcelona – Rafael Nadal d. David Ferrer
Stuttgart – Juan Carlos Ferrero vs. Pablo Andujar