Rafael Nadal avenged his 2009 loss to Robin Soderling 6–4, 6–2, 6–4 on Sunday in Paris, winning his fifth French Open titlle.
Sweden’s Soderling defeated Nadal at last year’s French Open fourth round, ending a run of four straight titles for the Spaniard. That loss was Nadal’s only one at the clay court grand slam.
Nadal capped off a perfect clay court season by not dropping a set in seven matches to win the French Open. He never even faced a set point in the tournament. He will be crowned the new world No. 1 when the latest rankings are released on Monday.
“Very important victory for me. I think one of the most important victories in my career,” said Nadal in his press conference.
The victory marks the culmination of a long and arduous process of recovery from injury after withdrawing from last year’s Wimbledon.
“For me, it was 11 months without win a title, so a lot of tournaments going back to home without a victory,” said Nadal.
“It was personal goal to be back at my best. So I did. The biggest thing is the personal satisfaction to be here, to be here another time, and to be at the top level.”
Nadal’s defense was incredible. Soderling had to work very hard to win points, often having to hit three or four shots that would be winners against another player.
It wasn’t Soderling’s best performance, in large part due to Nadal’s fantastic court coverage.
“Of course I didn’t play as good this year as I did against him last year. I didn’t serve as well. I wasn’t hitting the ball as clean. It was tough today. I didn’t really get into the match,” said Soderling.
The Swede did have his chances to break serve but on numerous occasions, he’d commit an unforced error. Soderling was 0–8 on break point.
Nadal is well aware of his success when facing break points. “We have the statistics and I am No. 1 on the break points saved of the year,” he said.
Sunday was a cooler day than Saturday for the women’s final. The temperature was 70 and it had rained heavily earlier in the morning. The heavier, cooler conditions favored Soderling but Nadal was too strong.
Soderling has to be pleased with his performance in reaching his second straight French Open final. He defeated defending champion Roger Federer in four sets in the quarterfinals. He then overcame a tough challenge from Tomas Berdych in the semifinals in five sets. He proved last year’s run to the final was no fluke.
First Italian Grand Slam
On Saturday, Italy’s Francesca Schiavone won the French Open women’s title, marking the first grand slam title for an Italian woman by beating Australia’s Samantha Stosur 6–4, 7–6.
Schiavone, at nearly 30, has waited a long time for this moment. She played courageously and faultlessly winning 14 of 15 net approaches.
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