Top seed Robin Soderling won the 2011 Brisbane International in straight sets today, beating defending champion Andy Roddick in a commanding performance which has only underlined his Australian Open credentials.

Soderling warmed up for the year's first Grand Slam event with a 6-3 7-5 win over the American that saw the world No.5 dominate his opponent for much of the match.

The Swede was able to combine his powerful serve with strong baseline play that prevented Roddick from getting into any kind of rhythm.

During the second set, Soderling continued to apply pressure to Roddick as the American saved three break points before holding serve.

At 4-4 in that set, the notoriously prickly Roddick launched into a heated argument with chair umpire Fergus Murphy as rain began to enter the open-air arena.

Roddick, the second seed, felt the court was too wet for play, and made his feelings known to Murphy.

After the American continually complained the court was too slippery, the match was duly halted.

Soderling was unfazed by the weather conditions and remained calm, draping a towel over his head while his opponent continued to remonstrate with the umpire.

Murphy inspected the court and seemed to antagonise Roddick further when he attempted to replicate player movements.

Roddick then turned to his box and continued to hurl verbal barbs at Murphy.

"If I ever move like that on the tennis court I'll eat my racquet," Roddick said in reference to Murphy's inspection of the playing surface.

"I'm not going to get hurt before the Open."

The ball-boy and girls were hastily wiping the court down with towels but not even their efforts calmed Roddick who continued to berate Murphy.

Roddick's outburst was as much about the weather as it was about his performance as pent-up frustration was vented for 15 minutes before play resumed.

When the match restarted, Roddick's outburst failed to fire up his game and Soderling immediately secured the break before serving out the match.

Soderling's dominance from the baseline was only matched by his serve as the Swede didn't give Roddick a chance to break and served his opponent off the court. The Swede fired off nine aces to his opponent's eight while blasting 16 winners to Roddick's nine. He finished the match with 16 aces, with Roddick hitting 12.

Several times throughout the match the pair found themselves in long rallies before Roddick would lose patience and hit an unforced error. 

Soderling has now defeated Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Roddick in the past 12 months, however, Roddick still has something that he doesn't - a Grand Slam victory. However, after Soderling's performance in Brisbane, it appears that this year that void on his CV might be rectified.

After the match, all eyes turned to Roddick as the American agreed to double his contribution to the Queensland flood appeals.

Before the tournament Roddick promised to donate $100 for every ace that he served which came to $5400 after his final match.This meant that after Roddick's latest pledge the fiery American would donate $10,800 to the affected parts of Queensland, further enhancing his reputation as one of tennis' good guys. Even if a volatile one.