Soderling continues French Open upset run

PARIS, June 2 (UPI) -- Swede Robin Soderling Tuesday defeated his second Top 10 player in three days and advanced to the semifinals of the French Open in Paris.

Soderling backed up his four-set win over world No. 1 Rafael Nadal with a straight-set romp over 10th-ranked Nikolay Davydenko, 6-1, 6-3, 6-1. Soderling, seeded 23rd, next goes against 12th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez, who upset third-seeded Andy Murray, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, 6-4.

Soderling didn't have his serve broken and forced Davydenko into 14 break-point situations, cashing in six of them. He won 41 points off Davydenko's serve while dropping just 17 points in 12 service games. Davydenko had two break chances -- both in Soderling's first service game of the match.

It is the first time Soderling has made a semifinal in 21 Grand Slam tournaments. Soderling won the first three times he played Gonzalez but has lost the last four tries, including two matches on clay.

Gonzalez had 45 winners in ousting Murray, who had won 20 of his last 24 matches, including two losses to Nadal. Murray had lost one set before the quarterfinals. Gonzalez squeaked out the first set with one service break and Murray returned the favor in the second.

But in the third set Gonzalez won all but seven points to take control. Murray got a service break in the ninth game of the fourth set but Gonzalez came back with a break at love to end the match.