Cancel the party, Roland Garros, because Rafael Nadal won’t be celebrating his fifth straight birthday — or his fifth straight French Open title — in Paris this year.
The top-ranked Spaniard may not exactly be dethroned as the King of Clay, but he did lose for the first time in 32 matches on the red dirt of the French capital, falling to Robin Soderling 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 7-6 (2) in the fourth round on Sunday.
”Unfortunately, it’s the first time I’m not going to celebrate my birthday in Roland Garros,” said Nadal, who turns 23 on Wednesday and usually gets a cake from the organizers on the big day.
”I hope I’ll be able to celebrate more here and be back next year and try and win.”
Defending women’s champion Ana Ivanovic also lost on Sunday, while top-seeded Dinara Safina and Maria Sharapova made it through to the quarterfinals. Also in the men’s draw, No. 3 Andy Murray advanced.
On Monday, three-time finalist Roger Federer, No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro and No. 6 Andy Roddick were scheduled to play in the fourth round, as were Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic.
Since Nadal’s first match at the French Open five years ago, he has dominated the only clay-court major. He beat 13-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in each of the last four years, including the last three in the final.
Now, Nadal thinks it might just be Federer’s turn.
”Federer is the favourite, in my opinion,” said Nadal, who ended Federer’s five-year winning streak at Wimbledon last year. ”If one guy deserves it, that’s him.”
Soderling, however, deserved to win on Sunday.
The big-swinging Swede ran Nadal all over the place, sending forehands to all corners of the court. Even when Nadal appeared to start a comeback by going up a break early in the fourth set, Soderling broke right back.
”I didn’t want him to make me run,” said Soderling, who was swinging for the lines for the full four sets. ”I tried to be the one that made him run.”
Soderling finished with 59 unforced errors, more than twice as many as Nadal’s 28, but the Swede’s 30 forehand winners made up some ground on the top-ranked Spaniard.
”He didn’t surprise me because I know how he plays and how dangerous he can be,” said Nadal, who said he failed to attack Soderling. ”I didn’t play aggressive.”
Nadal’s loss means he won’t have a chance to move ahead of Bjorn Borg for consecutive French Open titles. Both are stuck at a record four in a row.
And if Soderling deserves a ”Thank you” from the Swedish great, it’s going to have to be Borg doing the dialling.
”I’m not going to call him,” Soderling said. ”Hopefully he will call me. That would be great.”
The last time two defending champions lost in the same round at a Grand Slam tournament was in 2004, when Justine Henin and Juan Carlos Ferrero lost in the second round of the French Open. Only four times in the Open era have both defending champions failed to reach the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.
Ivanovic struggled throughout her match on Court Suzanne Lenglen, converting only two of five break points and making 20 unforced errors in a 6-2, 6-3 loss to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.
Safina didn’t have any problems in beating Aravane Rezai of France 6-1, 6-0. She won 11 straight games to close out the match, and has lost only five games through four rounds.
”I hope if I continue like this I can go a long way,” Safina said.
Sharapova rallied again, this time beating Li Na of China 4-6, 6-0, 6-4. The unseeded Russian is making her return to Grand Slam tennis after almost a year off due to a right shoulder injury. She lost the first set of her matches in the first and third rounds, and lost the middle set in the second round.
”If it takes three sets, if it takes two sets, if it takes two sets in five hours, I don’t care,” said Sharapova, who needs only a title at Roland Garros for a career Grand Slam.
”I’m willing to be out there for as long as I need to be in order to finish the match.” — Sapa, AP