French Open Betting / maxliu / 31 May 2009 / 1 Comments

World number one's Roland Garros reign ends as [48.0] Swede sends [1.02] Spaniard out in fourth round thriller.

The 2009 French Open has been blown well and truly open after Roger Soderling defeated Rafael Nadal 3-1 in their fourth round tie.

Twenty-third seed Soderling was matched at a high of [48.0] as he dispatched the Spaniard 6-2, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, in one of the biggest shocks in French Open history.

Nadal, who was bidding for a fourth consecutive French Open title, was matched at a low of [1.3] in Betfair's Mens Tournament Winner market with £269,000 matched on him at [1.02] and £1.5 million at [1.03].

Defending a 31 match unbeaten French Open run, Nadal was expected to win through against his Swedish opponent and, when he took the second set tie-break 7-2, it appeared that losing the first set would amount to little more than a blip. Not so, as Soderling showed great character and composure to take the third 6-4.

In the fourth, Soderling withstood pressure from Nadal, defending deep before coming out to attack his opponent. When the set went to a tie break he grew in confidence, going 4-1 up before eventually taking the decisive game 7-2.

Nadal's exit means that Roger Federer is the new tournament favourite at [2.4] followed by Britain's Andy Murray, who faces Fernando Gonzalez in the quarter-final, at [6.0]. Robin Soderling, who faces Tommy Haas in his quarter, is in to [19.0] from [1000.00].