FRENCH OPEN
Venue: Roland Garros Date: 24 May - 7 June
Coverage: Live on BBC Red Button, live streaming and daily text commentary on BBC Sport website, updates on BBC Radio 5 Live plus second week commentary on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra. TV coverage on Eurosport.
World number one and defending champion Rafael Nadal saw his 31-match unbeaten run at the French Open come to an end with a shock defeat by Robin Soderling.
Nadal, who was bidding for a fifth straight Roland Garros title, lost 6-2 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 7-6 (7-2) in one of the biggest upsets in tennis history.
Soderling's win comes a month after was beaten 6-1 6-0 by Nadal in Rome.
"I told myself this is just another match," said the Swede, who now plays Fernando Verdasco or Nikolay Davydenko.
"All the time, I was trying to play as if it was a training session. When I was 4-1 up in the (fourth set) tie-break, I started to believe."
Soderling, seeded 23, had lost his previous three matches against Nadal but seemed a man transformed on Court Philippe Chatrier.
He unleashed one formidable service game after the next, while his relentless, pinpoint groundstrokes forced Nadal to constantly scramble just to stay in contention.
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When the Swede took the opening set it was the first time Nadal had dropped a set at the French Open since the 2007 final against Roger Federer.
The Spaniard struggled from the outset against a player with whom he was involved in an unsavoury spat at Wimbledon two years ago.
Nadal was broken in the fourth game as Soderling went 4-1 ahead and again in the crucial eighth as the free-flowing, uninhibited Swede continued to find the corners with devastating accuracy.
He deservedly claimed the opening set when the champion netted a backhand.
Despite missing his usual fluency, and visibly rattled by Soderling's unrelenting assault, Nadal broke for the first time to lead 2-1 in the second set, only to surrender his advantage in the 10th game.
Nadal would then have been expected to storm past the 6ft 4in Swede but Soderling executed a fine backhand volley to go to 5-5.
The Spaniard did, however, run away with the tie-break to level the match when a Soderling forehand flew long.
Soderling, coached by compatriot and 2000 finalist Magnus Norman, refused to yield, breaking to lead 4-3 in the third set before backing it up for a 5-3 advantage.
He took the set when Nadal netted another weary forehand off yet another deep Soderling drive.
Nadal broke to lead 2-0 in the fourth set, but Soderling hit back immediately as another tie-break loomed.
And when it arrived the 24-year-old clinched his famous win on a second match point when Nadal went wide with a pick-up.
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