Tennis
Soderling comes back to haunt Nadal
Monday, 23 November 2009 16:33Rafael Nadal was beaten in straight sets by Robin Soderling in his opening game at the ATP World Tour Finals, the Swede repeating his French Open shock win over the Spaniard.
Soderling saw off defending champion Nadal 6-4, 6-4 inside an hour and 38 minutes at London's O2 Arena in their Group B match in the season-ending tournament of the world's top players.
Four-time French Open defending champion Nadal had had his 31-match winning streak in Paris broken by world number 23 seed Soderling, who in becoming the only man to beat Nadal at Roland Garros, went on to reach the final.
And the Swede did it again with a tidy performance at the former Millennium Dome, at times giving Nadal the run-around on the medium-paced court.
