Nadal falls on a bad day for champions

By Pritha Sarkar

PARIS (Reuters) - Roland Garros witnessed one of its biggest upsets ever on Sunday when four-times champion Rafael Nadal was brought to his knees in a 6-2 6-7 6-4 7-6 defeat by Sweden's Robin Soderling in the fourth round.

The Spanish world number one had not lost a match at Roland Garros since his debut on the claycourt grand slam in 2005, stringing together a 31-0 record before Sunday.

The six-times grand slam champion seemed lacking in energy on Centre Court, losing the first set in 34 minutes before rallying back to win the second in a tiebreak 7-2.

Soderling brushed that off as a mere inconvenience on his way to making sure a second champion was dismissed that day after women's holder Ana Ivanovic was earlier beaten by Belarussian teenager Victoria Azarenka.

"I told myself this is just another match," said the jubilant Soderling.

"All the time, I was trying to play as if it was a training session. When I was 4-1 up in the tiebreak, I started to believe."

Ivanovic surrendered her French Open crown without much of a fight when she was totally outclassed in the fourth round by a the 19-year-old Azarenka who never lost belief.

The Belarussian has been rising up the ranks steadily and she finally announced her arrival on the big stage when she condemned the Serbian eighth seed to a 6-2 6-3 defeat.