Soderling tops Roddick, wins at Brisbane

BRISBANE, Australia, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- No. 1-seeded Robin Soderling defeated Andy Roddick in straight sets Sunday in winning the Brisbane International tennis tournament in Australia.

Soderling didn't face a break point in the 6-3, 7-5 win over Roddick, who was seeking back-to-back Brisbane titles. The win was Soderling's seventh ATP championship and will move him to No. 4 in the world rankings.

It was a rare match in which Roddick had fewer aces than his opponent as Soderling fired 16 aces -- versus Roddick's 12 -- and won 81 percent of the points on serve. He had 10 break-point chances, finishing off one in each set.

Soderling dropped his serve just once through the tournament.

"I'm playing really well and it makes me really happy," Soderling said. "I've never really played well in Australia before and now finally I won a tournament playing really good tennis. It gives me a lot of confidence for Melbourne."

Soderling is referring to the Australian Open, which begins Jan. 17 in Melbourne. Soderling has never advanced past the second round of that major tournament.

Roddick fell to 29-20 in ATP finals. He piled up 54 aces in the tournament and said he was donating $200 for each ace -- $10,800 -- to Queensland flood relief.

Soderling earned $73,000 for the title while second place was worth $38,450 to Roddick.