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Soderling faces Darcis in Memphis final

  • Story Highlights
  • Robin Soderling will face Steve Darcis in ATP event final in Memphis
  • Soderling beat Radek Stepanek 7-6 6-3 and Darcis beat Bjorkman 4-6 6-1 6-4
  • Nicolas Almagro denied David Nalbandian in the final at Acapulco, Mexico
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MEMPHIS, Tennessee -- Robin Soderling advanced to his second consecutive ATP final on Saturday when he beat Radek Stepanek 7-6 (2) 6-3 in the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships.

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Soderling never faced a break point as he cruised past top seed Andy Roddick in Memphis.

The eighth-seeded Swede, who upset top-seeded Andy Roddick to reach the semifinals, lost to Michael Llodra in a third-set tiebreak last week in Rotterdam.

Soderling will play Steve Darcis, who advanced to his second career ATP final by defeating Jonas Bjorkman 4-6 6-1 6-4.

Soderling did not play a match after July last year because of a left wrist injury, and now he's in his seventh career ATP final and second in Memphis. He improved to 3-1 against Stepanek, the No. 4 seed from the Czech Republic.

The Swede who spent his layoff practicing his serve and forehand three to four hours a day hasn't been broken this week or in his past 35 service games. He had 12 aces against Stepanek in winning 35 of 39 points on his first serve.

"I feel really good," Soderling said. "I think I played pretty good today even though it was a difficult match ... It's always difficult to play against Radek. I've played him four times now. It's tough. ... He's trying to make you play bad actually."

Darcis, ranked 81st, is making his Memphis debut.

"It's a great moment," Darcis said. "I will try to have fun tomorrow. It doesn't matter who I'm going to play. Anyway it will be a tough match. I'll try to take the chance at what the other guy leaves me and see."

Darcis had won only two ATP-level matches this year. He reached the second round in Sydney and beat Lukas Dlouhy in Davis Cup play. He won his first title at Amersfoot in the Netherlands in July

Bjorkman played in the semifinals of the event for the first time since 1997 when he lost to Todd Woodbridge in the finals. He hadn't been in a semifinal since Nottingham last year and came in with 6-9 record in singles.

"Unfortunately, I came up short against somebody who played a little bit better," Bjorkman said.

Spain's Nicolas Almagro denied David Nalbandian back-to-back tourament wins by defeating him 6-1 7-6 (7/1) in the final of the ATP Acapulco Open on Saturday.

The Argentine world No.8 won on home turf in Buenos Aires last week and was on a 10-match winning streak going into the match against his younger opponent.

But Almagro, ranked World No.28, has also been in outstanding form this year so far and had already won the Costa do Sauipe tournament two weeks ago to underline his claycourt credentials.

He was forced to withdraw in Buenos Aires after sustaining a groin injury in his quarterfinal against Juan Ignacio Chela.

Almagro, who is now 14-1 on clay this year, said that sheer hard work had seen him return to top form.

"It's incredible to have won two tournaments in two weeks. In Buenos Aires I had a small injury but I managed to get healthy in time for Acapulco," he said.

"I played an incredible first set and in the second I had my chances to break him but he was able to hang in there.

"I hit a good down the line backhand to go up 5-1 in the tie-break that gave me the extra confidence I needed to close out the match."

Nalbandian, who moved to 12-2 for the season, said that he had no complaints about Almagro winning the title.

"I started the match a bit slow and let him take control of the match. In the second I was able to play a bit better but he got out of trouble with his serve most of the time," he said.

The women's title went to top seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy but she was given a fright by rising French 18-year-old Alize Cornet before winning 6-0 4-6 6-1.

"I started just fine and was well focussed but in the second set I got ahead of myself and that made me more nervous," said Pennetta, who won this tournament for a first time in 2005. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

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