Robin Soderling trashed the home title dream of Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-1, 7-6 (7-1) to win the first Masters 1000 title of his career at Paris Bercy.
The Swede who has lost the last two finals on clay across town at Roland Garros, finally came good in the capital, hammering out his dominating victory in a mere 77 minutes and handing Monfils his second consecutive defeat at the indoor event after a loss to Novak Djkovic in 2009.
Soderling put over a winning volley to end the brief final, which contrasted with a pair of semifinals the day before, which each stretched to nearly three hours.
The Swede now stands 3-0 against Monfils without the loss of a set and beat the Frenchman heavily only last week in the Valencia quarterfinals.
Monfils saved five match points in his heroic semifinal win on Saturday against Roger Federer but has little left in the tank against the on-fire Soderling.
Soderling claimed his second title of the season after Rotterdam — also indoors — nine months ago. He struck his ninth ace for a 5-1 lead in the tiebreak and clinched victory on the first of five match points.
He becomes the first Swedish winner at Bercy since Thomas Enqvist in 1996.
