Soderling looking for another win over Federer

Technically, Robin Soderling has cut the Gordian knot known as Roger Federer. But it took a while.

After humorously declaring to the French Open crowd, in the wake of losing to Federer for a 10th straight time in that tournament's championship final in 2009, that "Nobody beats me 11 times in a row," Soderling proceeded to lose his next two matches to Federer.

Federer beat him an 11th straight time in the 2009 Wimbledon round of 16 and a 12th straight time in last year's U.S. Open quarterfinals. But in this year's French Open quarterfinals, Soderling at last solved his intractable problem with a four-set win over Federer.

Which brings everybody to tonight's Open quarterfinal at Arthur Ashe Stadium, where the Swede Soderling and Swiss Federer will tangle again.

"I expect it to be really tough, especially now that he's gotten a taste of how to beat me," Federer said. "It's up to me to clean up my game and put in a good performance."

Not just against Federer, but on the tour in general, Soderling, at 26, has puzzled out a way to reach his highest world ranking at No. 5 and present himself as on ongoing threat at the big tournaments. "I really feel that I can go very, very far in big tournaments," he said. As evidence, he has his two consecutive runner-up finishes at the French and his best run, to the quarterfinals, at this year's Wimbledon.

"Maybe he's more calm on the court now," Federer said. "Maybe he doesn't see all the other opponents as enemies, you know. Maybe he realizes that the tour is not that bad as it once was. I don't think he was enjoying it as much a few years ago. Who knows, maybe his girlfriend also calmed him down, the whole deal.

"Little things can have a huge impact. Just growing up, too. Took me a long time to figure out that staying calm was going to be better for my game than not."

Though respectful, Soderling clearly welcomes another shot at the five-time Open champ.

"I think it's always a very nice feeling to play against the world's best," he said. "You know, it's matches like that you train for. It's matches like that I've been dreaming of playing since I started playing tennis, playing at the big courts in the big tournaments. It's very fun."