All-Argentinean Final
04/07/11

After all the rain, play finally got going on Sunday afternoon. The two
semifinals in singles were played at the same time.

On Center Court, the Swede Robin S嶫erling faced this year's French Open
champion Gaston Gaudio. S嶫erling couldn't keep up the same level as in his
previous matches and commited too many unforced errors.

- I did not at all play as well today. I haven't held a racket for almost two
days and I felt that. I didn't move as well as before. At the same time,
Gaudio played very well, S嶫erling said.

Despite the loss, S嶫erling can be satisfied with his performance this week.
The 19-year old came to Bastad without a main draw win on clay this year, and
defeated two well established clay court players on his way to the semifinal
round.

- Ofcourse this has been a good tournament for me. I have won against two
good clay court players and this gives me confidence, S嶫erling said at the
post-match conference.

Gaston Gaudio has improved the level of his game during the week and was very
solid on the heavy courts.

- This was easier than I had expected. I thought it would be tougher
considering how well S嶫erling has played. I feel like I have the same
confidence as during the French Open. But after the win, I didn't hold a
racket for a month so it was difficult to play matches again, the Roland
Garros champion says.

On Court No. 1, Gaudio's countryman Mariano Zabaleta reached the final. The
defending champion scored a suprisingly easy win against Fernando Gonzalez.
Zabaleta looked extremely inspired and never gave the Chilean any chance to
get his heavy game going. After less than an hour, the finishing score line
was 6-1, 6-4.

The final will thus be an all-Argentinean final between two good friends born
1978.

- We have known each other since we were eight years old. Zabaleta is my best
friend among the pros and we have played against each other many times in the
juniors, Gaudio says.

Zabaleta was the better player as a junior. The grinder from Tandil finished
as World No. 1 among the juniors 1995, after having won the French Open and
Orange Bowl and finished the year with an incredible 61-1 record. Gaudio was
the second best junior player in Argentina and never had the same
international success. However, he has been sligtly more succesful than
Zabaleta on the professional tour. Gaudio has won three titles compared to
two for Zabaleta. After the win at Roland Garros, Gaudio reached a career
high ranking as No. 10 on the entry list. Zabaleta's best ranking so far is
No. 21 and currently he is No. 31.