Soderling takes home the Paris Masters for the first time.
Monfils could not use the momentum of the crowd to make inroads into the Swede’s game.
The first set was an one-sided affair with the tall Nordic breaking twice to take the set 6-1.
It will be Robin Soderling versus Gael Monfils this Sunday at the Paris Masters but not before both protagonists overcame hiccups en route to the final.
The first semi featured Michael Llodra—on a hot streak—against Swede Soderling.
The initial set went with serve 6-6. And it was Llodra—playing with the foot pressed to the accelerator—who romped home 7-0 in the tie-break.
That served as a wake-up call to Soderling who started to find his feet in the second, hitting his returns nice and deep. But it was all bazookas and Llodra’s brilliance until 5-5.
Soderling broke Llodra to go up 6-5 and then served out the set to make it 1-1.
Scintillating tennis continued with Llodra negating an early break to come roaring back into the match in the third set.