Robin Soderling served notice that he cannot be discounted for the Australian Open after overwhelming Andy Roddick in the final of the Brisbane International yesterday.

Soderling turned in a brilliant display of powerful serving and crushing groundstrokes in cool and damp conditions to see off a gallant Roddick 6-3, 7-5 and claim the seventh title of his career.

While Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are hot favourites to fight out the first Grand Slam of the year, Soderling’s performance in Brisbane suggests he has leapfrogged Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic as the man most likely to upset the big two in Melbourne.

“I am playing well and what makes me happy is that I’ve never really played well in Australia before,” Soderling said.

Soderling, who will rise to No.4 in the world as a result of the win, lost only one service game in the tournament, during Saturday’s semi-final win over Radek Stepanek. He served 49 aces during the week, including 16 in the final, but sent down countless other unplayable first serves.

Very much a crowd favourite in Brisbane, Roddick agreed last week to donate $100 for every ace he served to the Queensland flood relief.

With 54 aces, that amounted to $5,400, but during the trophy presentation Roddick announced to a cheering crowd that he would double that figure.