Brisbane , 7 January 2011 | Tennis Australia

Brisbane International’s top men’s seed, Robin Soderling, is through to the semifinals after defeating Aussie qualifier Matthew Ebden in straight sets.

The Swede’s big serve and powerful ground strokes didn’t falter during his 6-3 6-2 win.

“I’ve been serving really well all week. I haven’t been broken yet and today especially I managed to serve really well when it really matters,” Soderling said post-match.

“I still know that I can play better. I’ve played three pretty solid matches so it feels good coming into tomorrow’s semifinal.”

Despite the loss, Ebden says he is happy with the way he played throughout the week and will take away many positives.

“For me it’s an opportunity to test at that level and you know, obviously you learn things and hopefully I can take some experience and move forward with it,” Ebden said.

“[It’s the] first week of the year [and] I’ve played eight matches, including a couple in the doubles, so it’s a great start and I think that’s very important leading into the rest of the year, so I’m very happy. Above all, my professionalism and my mentality this week has been good.”

Soderling will now play Radek Stepanek who earlier defeated the seventh seed Florian Mayer in straight sets, 6-3 6-3.

“I have a really difficult match coming up tomorrow,” Soderling said. “I’ve played against Radek many times and we’ve always had tough matches so I have to stay focussed on this one.”

Stepanek, the 2009 Brisbane International champion and 2010 finalist, said “everything suits me here.”

“Since the first tournament in 2009 I’ve felt on the court here very well and I had a win in 2009, and reached the finals in 2010.

“I’m very pleased to play here in front of such a crowd, you know it’s always an honour… when you win a tournament it’s obviously a favourite place [and somewhere] you want to go back.”

In other news, Australia’s Paul Hanley and Czech Lukas Dlouhy have made the men’s doubles final, defeating the world No.10 doubles pair Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor.

The duo took just 56 minutes to oust the tournament’s top seeds, winning 6-4 6-2.

Polish doubles pair Kaludia Jans and Alicia Rosolska will also play in the 2011 Brisbane International women’s doubles final defeating Monica Niculescu and Zi Yan today.

Men’s Main Draw Singles Semifinals Results:
[1]Robin Soderling (SWE) d [Q] Matthew Ebden (AUS) 6-3 6-2
Radek Stepanek (CZE) d [7]Florian Mayer (GER) 6-3 6-3
Men’s Main Draw Doubles Semifinals Results:
[3]Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/Paul Hanley (AUS) d [1] Max Mirnyi (BLR)/Daniel Nestor (CAN) 6-4 6-2

Women’s Main Draw Doubles Semifinals Results:
Klaudia Jans/Alicja Rosolska (POL) d [2] Monica Nicolescu (ROU)/Zi Yan (CHN) 5-7 7-6(4) 10-8