Robin Soderling looking menacing again as Roger Federer awaits him

Robin Soderling is a scary tennis player. The day he blew Roger Federer off the clay of Paris this summer he had a look in his eye that not only did not invite contradiction of his achievement but positively advised against even thinking about it. He was given his due deference and praise for an outstanding performance, his first win over the great man in 13 attempts and a show of power tennis we thought was about shake up the men's game. It did not quite happen. Yesterday at Flushing Meadows, however, the Swede advanced to the fourth round of the US Open with that same eerie intensity, a cold calm that was missing at Wimbledon, and which would seem to have returned at just the right time. It is as well. He is on the same side of the draw again as Federer. Soderling gave up only eight games in dismissing the Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker in the Louis Armstrong Stadium in 102 minutes, one of the shortest completed matches on the men's side of the tournament. There have been quicker kills – the shortest being Gilles Simon's 81-minute win over Donald Young, followed by Andy Murray's 84-minute victory on Friday against Dustin Brown – but none more menacing. Soderling, seeded fifth here, dipped after Roland Garros, especially when he was utterly destroyed by Rafa Nadal in the final, but he looks back to near his best after the shakiest of starts in the first round here. Against De Bakker, his serve hit a pleasing high of 135mph as he sent down seven aces while keeping 51% of his first serves in play, a reasonable return for such a hard hitter. De Bakker, who had come through on a retirement by the qualifier Ivan Dodig in the fourth set of the previous round, was never in the match. Soderling, not the most popular player on the circuit but one of the most respected, next plays the 21st seed Albert Montañés, who was gifted a win when the youngest remaining player in the Open, Kei Nishikori, retired in the second set with a groin injury when trailing 6-2, 6-1. The Japanese qualifier had fought through cramps in a five-setter of nearly five hours to put out the 11th seed, Marin Cilic, in one of the week's major upsets, and was himself the beneficiary of a retirement in his first match, when Evgeny Korolev withdrew injured. Nadal is scary in a quieter way than Soderling. On court, he snorts and squints, his muscles flexing as if ready to defend his family against burglars. In the relative civility of the press room, he intimidates more subtly. He has the simplest of tennis philosophies: "Enjoy the moment and fight for every ball." If only it were that simple. The Spaniard, chasing his first US Open to complete a career of slams, was reflecting on the task ahead after a straight–sets win that must count as among the toughest of his career over the determined, mother-coached Denis Istomin. It was a match of soaring quality from start to finish. Yet Nadal's inquisitors would not let him enjoy the moment. The questions that seep into nearly every press conference he gives follow a familiar, relentless agenda: can he add the final piece of his slams jigsaw here at Flushing Meadows, and does he think he could become the greatest player of all time, greater, even, than Federer. The theme might play big in the press room, but the player could not be less concerned. "You are focussed on this, no?" he said, with as much civility as he could muster. "Maybe for Roger it was a big goal, because he is the best in history and he needed Roland Garros. He deserved Roland Garros because he did three finals and a semi-final. "For me, to complete the grand slam at this moment is not a goal. For me the goal is try to improve my level, to play well in the next match, and we will see what happens next Sunday, no? If not, I'm going to go home, try to keep improving and come back here for many years to try. For me, it is not an obsession." Expect the same question to be asked at least a couple more times this week.