PARIS – Finally, the end of Rafael Nadal’s unbeaten run at the French Open has come.
Robin Soderling of Sweden surprised everybody with his Sunday win against Nadal. Soderling won the match 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 7-6 (2) in the 4th round, putting a stop to our Spanish hero’s 31-match winning streak at Roland Garros.
Soderling, who is seeded 23rd at this year’s tournament, exhausted the open champ on the center area with his brutal serve and blistering forehand.
Nadal was the crowd favorite from the start, from his first appearance at Roland Garros. He dominated all 31 earlier matches, with only seven sets lost. Wow, I know! The last of these was against Roger Federer in the 2007 Wimbledon final.
Soderling openly admitted that Nadal really didn’t look like his normal, ruthless self out there. He also stated that he believe’s Nadal is the best clay-court player who’ve ever been born.
Our heroine, Ana Ivanovic, had the same bad luck as Nadal. She lost against the highly skilled Dinara Safina, who made her way to the quarterfinals by winning this match without much contest.
Among men, Andy Murray from Britain and Fernando Gonzalez from Chile, seeded 3rd and 12th made it into the quarterfinals.
This occasion is among rare ones, two of the overwhelming favorites falling at the same time… The last event similar to this occurred in 2004. Justine Henin and Juan Carlos Ferrero were the “lucky” players to loose in the French Open.
Nadal is now a brilliant player. From the last four important titles, he only fell short at the U.S. Open. He also won the Australian Open and completed the Grand Slam this year.
His goal was to be the first male player who wins the French Open, five consecutive times, but unfortunately, that won’t be the case.
The tie gave big chances to three-time champ Roger Federer. If Roger wins the French Open title this year, he’ll have a career Grand Slam. This became quite evident upon the elimination of a top-ranked opponent, Novak Djokovic.
Ivanovic wasn’t as good as we were all expecteding in her match against Court Suzanne Lenglen. She converted just two out of the five break points, achieving 20 unforced errors in a 6-2,6-3 loss to Victori Azarenka from Belarus.
Ivanovic said she needed a little more time, so she called a trainer to check her neck. Azarenka played so good, she simply exterminated Ivanovic by breaking her serves almost effortlessly. Finally, Azarenka took a 4-0 lead.
Last year’s French Open title was the only one in Ivanovic’s Grand Slam tournament life.
Azarenka, age 19, had no success last year at Roland Garros, but she sure has now. Her next match will be in the quarterfinals of this year’s French Open, possibly the biggest and most important match of her life.
Safina simply played flawlessly as she easily took the lead against Aravane Rezai from France, winning with 6-1 and 6-0.
The fierce Russian only needed to win eleven games in order to end the match. She played four full rounds, loosing only five games. She played eight sets and won half of them!
“I can’t believe how I only lost five games before making it to the quarterfinals. It feels quite good, and I wish that I can go on this way. If I do, I’ll surely make it far!” said Safina.
The last French Open wasn’t so good for Safina. Ivanovic took the lead against her. Safina also lost in the Australian Open. Her opponent was Serena Williams, in the title match.
Safina has really made her mark atop the women’s list, but she admits how things are getting much more difficult.
“So much stress and nerves. I was afraid, I needed to succeed and win every match. It’s easy to play when you don’t care about losing, but when you do…things get different.” said Safina after being on the top.
Dominika Cikulkova, seeded 20th, managed to beat Agnes Szavay, ranked 29th, from Hungary. The final results were 6-2, 6-4 in a quite messy match: 17 winners and 66 unforced errors.
“I had to cry since I was so happy with my result for this match. These are the moments, this is the feeling what I love, this is what I enjoy tennis for.” said Cibulkova after winning her match.
On the men’s side, Gonzalez is the first who made it to the quarterfinals. Victor Hanescu from Romania was the lucky guy to lost to Gonzalez, with 6-2,6-4,6-2. Marin Cilic from Croatia, seeded 13th, lost to Murray, 7-5, 7-6 (4), 6-1.
Gonzalez managed to participate at the 2007 Australian Open final. His match ended with a beautiful forehand winner. At the end, he had 50 winners and 16 unforced errors.
“I was into getting as many points as possible. I always try to play accurately, and taking no risks if I shouldn’t. I start hitting my huge shots after breaks. I’m using my huge shots with maximal confidence, I’m sure I can win my games with my special serve and forehand” said Gonzalez. He will play Murray in the next round.
