Who is Robin Soderling? Sometimes you see a player that plays pretty well, and you know that it was something of a fluke, and the likelihood that is he’ll not be able to repeat such an accomplishment again. That might be someone like Malivai Washington who worked his way to a finals of Wimbledon only to lose to Richard Krajicek (neither ever made it to a finals of a major afterwards).

For some reason, Robin Soderling is being given a second look. But it’s not hard to see why.

Soderling beat Nadal a few weeks ago in Paris in what has to be the biggest upset at Roland Garros since, well, maybe ever. Nadal had never lost at Roland Garros. He had won 3 of 4 clay events coming into Paris. He had been winning his early rounds handily. And no one had ever heard of Robin Soderling. No one except possibly his Davis Cup teammates.

Mats Wilander, himself a former number 1, would tell folks that Soderling was a stalwart Davis Cup player, a guy who came through in the clutch. Still, Soderling doesn’t fit the profile of an up-and-coming player. New players are supposed to catch fire when they are 17, make the world take notice. They aren’t supposed to wait until 24 to do this.

It wasn’t Nadal’s victory that made people sit and take notice, although certainly, they took notice. It was his next two victories. In 2001, Federer had an auspicious start, knocking off the 7 time Wimbledon champ in the fourth round. He lost in the quarterfinals to Tim Henman, although in all honesty, that match was pretty close. But it follows the typical pattern of a big upset. You get the big upset, you’re happy, you lose in the next round.

Soderling followed up his victory with a crushing of Nikolay Davydenko who had easily dispatched Fernando Verdasco. Many felt Davydenko, former world number 4, would be favored to reach his first French Open final. Who knew that, of all the players left in the draw, Soderling had a winning record against Davydenko?

More importantly, he followed up that match with a completely improbable victory over Fernando Gonzalez. Down 4-1 and a break and having lost the previous two sets after being up two sets to love, Soderling won the next 5 games, to prevent an embarassing loss and take him to his first major final.

That was a key victory for Soderling, because he played a tough opponent, and showed the steely reserve to come back. Although Soderling would go out somewhat tamely against Roger Federer, he did tighten the match forcing the second set to a tiebreak and playing the final set 6-4.

Lately, players who have had big games but have struggled on the mental part have begun to bloom at a later age. Before Soderling, Fernando Verdasco was that player. At age 25, he was a a hard-hitting player that was generally ranked between 10 and 20, perhaps much like another Fernando, Fernando Gonzalez. Verdasco’s jump came during the Australian Open where he beat an ailing Andy Murray, then pushed Nadal to five gruelling sets. His work with Gil Reyes, famous for being Agassi’s strength trainer, spiritual advisor, and part time mentor, lead to a better frame of mind.

Soderling has been working with former Swedish French Open finalist, Magnus Norman, to improve his game. He’s always had a big serve, nice flattish groundstrokes. When he has time to set up, he can hit as hard as anyone in the game. And with the mental coolness he showed at the French, many felt he could make trouble at Wimbledon, especially considering clay isn’t Soderling’s best surface. It may indeed be grass.

Soderling has followed up his performance at the French by getting to the fourth round of Wimbledon. He beat Spain’s Nicolas Almagro in straight sets: 7-6(7), 6-4, 6-4. He nearly gave away the first set tiebreak after going up 5-0, then watching Almagro tie it at 5-all. Soderling held tough enough to win that first set, which was key because he took the next two sets.

Remember the finals of the French Open. McEnroe had said that Soderling was not well-liked amongst players, but few others knew much about Soderling. He not only seemed like an easy-going guy, but he was very gracious to Roger Federer, calling him the best ever. He said that he had joked (“yoked” in Swedish English) that no one beats Robin Soderling 10 times in a row (popularized by Vitas Gerulaitis who said no one beats Gerulaitis 17 times in a row, when he finally won a match against Connors, who had beaten him 16 times in a row (records seem to show Connors never beat Gerulaitis 16 times in a row–13 was more like it, but perhaps Vitas wasn’t keeping count).

Soderling went on to say that he and his coach were wrong then declared no one beats Soderling 11 times in a row.

Well, Soderling is about to put this theory to the test. Federer had been cruising against Philipp Kohlschreiber, who had never taken a set of Roger. He was up 6-3, 6-2. In the third set, Federer fell and appeared to twist his knee in a game where he had a chance to break Kohlschreiber. Although Federer looked fine, it seemed to rattle his game. Kohlschreiber, who had been playing better in the third, eventually took the third set in a tiebreak. Federer, seemingly disgusted with losing a set, rolled in the fourth, taking it easily, 6-1.

It’s unlucky that Soderling has to play Federer in the next round. He might have made it further in the tournament. But then, Soderling was a giant killer once, beating the king of clay on clay. Does he have it in him to beat Federer? Soderling says Federer is a bad matchup for him, and makes him play suboptimal tennis. But grass is also one of Soderling’s better surfaces.

Currently, Karlovic and Tsonga are in a fourth set. Karlovic took sets 1 and 3. Tsonga took the second set. Brad Gilbert predicted Dr. Ivo (a riff on Austin Powers, Dr Evil) woudl upset Tsonga. And honestly, it could happen. Karlovic has a huge serve. Grass ought to be his best surface. At some point, he has to capability to string together a few good games.

Verdasco and Montanes also in the fourth set. Montanes took the opening set. Verdasco took sets 2 and 3. Robredo and Sela have just started.

Up later, Djokovic against Fish. Fish is playing well and could upset Novak. However, Djokovic has a lot to prove to keep himself in the elite. Haas will play Cilic. Can the wily veteran defeat the up-and-comer?