Sunday 31st May 2009 - 21:17:56
World number one and defending champion Rafael Nadal has crashed out of the French open in the fourth rounding losing to Robin Soderling 6-2 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 7-6 (7-2).
Nadal was in the hunt for his fifth successive title in Paris having never been beaten on the clay at Roland Garros but the big hitting Swede ended his thirty one match unbeaten streak.
This loss comes just weeks after the Spaniard crushed Soderling in Rome 6-1 6-0 before he went on to win the Masters title as well as the Mote Carlo and Barcelona crowns before coming to Paris as the red hot favourite to defend his title.
Nadal, who hadn’t lost a set so far this championship, look out of sorts in the first set as he struggled to read Soderling’s serve as well as struggling with his own service games allowing him to take a surprise one set to love lead.
Despite the first set loss Nadal came out all guns blazing in the second to break early and take a 2-1 lead however his lack of fluency and service issues came back to haunt him as he surrendered the advantage in the tenth game.
Soderling stayed with Nadal forcing the second set to a tie break that the world number one comfortably won. The momentum was expected to stay with Nadal but he failed to get any sort of rhythm going and though he had moments of pure class these were outnumbered by unusual shot choices and unforced errors.
Soderling produced strong service hold after strong service hold and seemed unfazed by losing the second set as he broke Nadal to take the third set 6-4.
But in true Nadal style he fought back to take the early advantage in the fourth only to throw it away as Soderling broke yet again. Unable to regain the advantage Nadal faced a second tie-break in the fourth, which Soderling won with surprise ease.
However the Spaniard, as always, was very gracious in defeat: “I didn’t play my best. I played very short and I couldn’t attack. I made it easy for him to play at his level. But I lost. It’s not a tragedy, I had to lose one day. I must accept my defeats with the same level of calm that I accept my victories."
With Nadal gone that opens up the top half of the draw, which still contains Andy Murray who saw off Marin Cilic in straight sets 7-5 7-6 (7-4) 6-1.
But it wasn’t all plain sailing for the British number one as twenty year old Cilic stuck with him for the first two sets.
But the inexperienced player was unable to take advantage of Murray’s second serve, as Murray’s serve really was the weak part of his game today. However it’s something the Brit will have to watch out for against the experienced Fernando Gonzalez, who is yet to drop a set in the tournament as he bulldozed through Victor Hanescu 6-2 6-4 6-2.
It wasn’t a great day for the Spanish as Fernando Verdasco, who had looked in great form in his previous rounds, lost to Davydenko 6-2 6-2 6-4.
In the women’s side of the draw the defending champion Ana Ivanovic was also sent crashing out of the competition as she lost in straight sets to Victoria Azarenka 6-2 6-3.
Ivanovic has struggled with form since winning the title at Roland Garros last year and she has seen herself slide down the top ten rankings. But there was no such trouble for world number one Dinara Safina as she cruised to victory 6-1 6-0 and will face Azarenka in the next round.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
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