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Clay King Nadal dethroned at Roland Garros, Queen Ivanovic followed

By AjayTyagi (TennisEarth.com), Submitted On

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World number one and arguably the best clay court player of all times , Rafael Nadal has been knocked out of this year's French Open by Swede Robin Soderling in the biggest upset of the year so far. The 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-6(2) defeat is Nadal's first on the red clay of Roland Garros. The Mallorcan, who won the title in his very first attempt in 2005 has been invincible ever since. However, Robin Soderling registered the biggest win of his career by ending the 31 match winning streak that the Spaniard had at the second Grand Slam of the year.

Soderling displayed thrilling performance in the first set, blistering forehands at all corners of the court. The key factor in Swede's win turned out to be his solid serve that made Nadal struggle throughout the match.

“I just couldn’t believe it when I won that last point,” said a emotional  Soderling after the match.

“I’m so proud of myself. This is the best win of my career against a man who is the greatest claycourt player in history. But I told myself before the match that I had to believe I could win."

Soderling, who had no doubts about the level of achievements of his vanquished opponent, said - “He can’t feel good right now, as he is the greatest clay-court player of all time.”

This means the field is wide open for Swiss maestro Roger Federer to create history and become only the sixth man in the history to win all four Grand Slam events. The last man to do so was none other than great American Andre Agassi, who achieved the feat 10 years ago at the same venue.

In the women's draw, defending champion and eighth seed Ana Ivanovic was sent home by emerging star Victoria Azarenka, who beat the Serbian 6-3, 6-2 in little over an hour.

Azarenka, who beat Serena Williams in the Miami final this year, has turned out to be one of the most promising players this year. Her confidence and performance on-court has only grown ever since, helping her to reach the quarterfinals of the French Open for the very first time in her career.