Roland Garros Final Preview

© Getty ImagesRafael Nadal is bidding to win a historic "Clay-Slam" by capturing his fifth Roland Garros crown.

No. 2 Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs. No. 5 Robin Soderling (SWE)

Rafael Nadal will look to both win his fifth Roland Garros title and reclaim the No. 1 spot in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings when he faces Robin Soderling, the only player ever to beat Nadal on the clay in Paris, in Sunday’s final. Soderling, through to the Roland Garros final for the second straight year, has already ousted World No. 1 Roger Federer en route to his second major final and will look to win his first Grand Slam trophy.

Head-To-Head

Soderling has won the past two matches against Nadal, including in the round of 16 at Roland Garros last year, which ended the Spaniard’s 31-match winning streak in Paris. That is Nadal’s lone loss at Roland Garros (37-1) and the only time he has lost a best-of-five sets match on clay (55-1).

Statistics Leading To The Final
(courtesy of Leo Levin, Information & Displays Systems)

RANKINGS UPDATE – If Nadal captures his fifth Roland Garros title in five years, he will also return to No. 1 in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings. If he fails to win the title, Roger Federer will retain the top spot and will also hold the position until Wimbledon, therefore surpassing Pete Sampras’s record of 286 weeks at No. 1 on June 14. Nadal last ranked No. 1 the week of June 29, 2009 after holding the top spot for 46 consecutive weeks. Soderling is guaranteed to attain a career-high ranking after Roland Garros, reaching No. 4 if he wins the title and No. 6 if he finishes runner-up.

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NADAL EYES FIFTH TITLE – Nadal is bidding to become just the second man in history to win five or more Roland Garros titles, after Bjorn Borg. It took the Swede seven attempts to win five titles, but Nadal will achieve the feat in six attempts if he wins on Sunday: Here are the all-time title leaders: 
                            No.
Bjorn Borg              6 (1974-75, 1978-81)
Rafael Nadal           4 (2005-08)
Henri Cochet          4 (1926, 1928, 1930, 1932)

OPEN ERA CLAY-COURT TITLE LEADERS – With a win on Sunday, Nadal will move into fifth place alone with 29 titles, one behind six-time Roland Garros leader Bjorn Borg. Here is the Open Era clay-court titles list:
                                               No.
1) Guillermo Vilas                       45
2) Thomas Muster                       40
3) Bjorn Borg, Manuel Orantes      30
5) Nadal, Ivan Lendl, Ilie Nastase  28

WINNING FIRST SET KEY – Nadal has an eye-popping 94-1 career record in his career when he wins the first set in a Grand Slam tournament. His only loss when winning the first set came to countryman David Ferrer in the fourth round at the US Open in 2007. Nadal is nearly unbeatable when winning the first set on clay. He is 184-4 in his career (.979) while 18-12 when losing the first set (.600). In fact over the past five years (2006-10) he's only lost once (116-1) after winning the first set and that came against Roger Federer in the 2007 Hamburg final.

SODERLING LOOKS FOR SECOND CLAY WIN – Soderling is one of 13 players to defeat Nadal on clay during the Mallorcan’s outstanding career. The Swede is trying to become only the third player to beat Nadal at least twice on clay. Argentine and 2004 Roland Garros champion Gaston Gaudio has three wins (in 2003-04-05) while rival Roger Federer has two (in 2007 and ’09). Nadal’s career record on clay is a sparkling 202-16 (.927) with a 28-2 mark in clay-court finals. Federer is the only player to beat Nadal in a clay-court final, doing so twice.

HOW SWEDE IT IS – Soderling is the seventh different Swedish man to reach the final in Paris. He is bidding to become the fourth Swede to win the title, joining Sven Davidson (1957), Bjorn Borg (1974-75, ‘78-81), and Mats Wilander (1982, ’85, ’88). Borg celebrates his 54th birthday on Sunday.

YET TO DROP A SET – Nadal has reached the final without losing a set, the third time he has achieved this feat at Roland Garros. Bjorn Borg is the only other player in the Open Era to advance to the final here on two or more occasions without dropping a set, doing so in 1978, 1980 and 1981. Nadal is bidding to win his second Grand Slam title without losing a set, having also achieved the feat at Roland Garros in 2008. In the Open Era, the only other players to be crowned champion here without dropping a set are Ilie Nastase (1973) and Bjorn Borg (1978 and 1980).

CLAY COURT SLAM -- Nadal takes a 21-match winning streak on clay this year into the final after ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles in Monte-Carlo, Rome and Madrid. He is the first player to win all three Masters 1000 titles in the same season.

DEFEATING NO. 1-2 – Soderling defeated top seed Roger Federer in the quarter-finals. If he defeats No. 2 Nadal, he will become the eighth different player – and the third here - in the Open Era to defeat the top two seeds on his way to a Grand Slam title (Mats Wilander achieved it twice.) If Soderling wins, he will be only the second player to beat Federer and Nadal at a Grand Slam tournament. Juan Martin del Potro defeated both players at the 2009 US Open.