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Soderling crushes Ferrer for victory on home turf

Robin Soderling earned his 10th ATP Tour title © Getty Images

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World No. 5 Robin Soderling completely destroyed David Ferrer to delight his home fans in the final of the Swedish Open.

In a meeting of the two top seeds, Sunday's encounter was about as lop-sided as it gets, with world No. 6 Ferrer never settling. Soderling broke five times to wrap up a 6-2 6-2 victory in just 67 minutes.

The Swede was appearing in his third consecutive Bastad final, having lifted the trophy two years ago when he beat Juan Monaco. He was also defending an undefeated record in finals this year, having won all three in 2011.

Last year Soderling was denied by Nicolas Almagro, but the possibility of another agonising defeat on home soil was rapidly extinguished as he broke in Ferrer's opening service game. Both men had only been broken once all week, but Soderling quickly penetrated for a second time to take the first set with relative ease.

Ferrer has always struggled against Soderling, losing four of 13 career meetings, as well as two of three in the Bastad event. The Spaniard was searching for a 12th career title, but he lost his first two service games of the second set to all-but-hand his rival victory.

Soderling did drop his serve as the finish line approached, but he immediately broke for a fifth time before serving out for his 10th ATP Tour title.

The Mercedes Cup final was another one-sided affair as Juan Carlos Ferrero defeated fellow Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6-4 6-0. Both finalists had gone to three sets in the semi-finals, but it seemed only Ferrero had recovered sufficiently. The former world No. 1 became the seventh Spaniard to win the Stuttgart event, picking up his 16th ATP Tour title after breaking Andujar five times.

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