Rafael Nadal and Ana Ivanovic were the defending champions. Both failed to defend their titles, losing to Robin Söderling and Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round, respectively. Nadal's loss to Söderling was his first defeat in the tournament since debuting in 2005, and would remain his sole loss at the tournament until the 2015 French Open. Söderling proceeded to defeat Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando González on his way to the final, where he was defeated by Roger Federer. By winning the French Open, Federer equalled Pete Sampras' then-record of 14 Grand Slam titles, and completed his Career Grand Slam by winning the tournament; he had lost the previous three finals to Nadal. Svetlana Kuznetsova, the runner-up to Justine Henin-Hardenne in 2006, was the women's champion this year. She defeated World No. 1 Dinara Safina in the final, avenging a semi-final loss to the same opponent in 2008.
Notable stories
Rafael Nadal record winning streak, and loss to Robin Söderling
Entering the tournament, four-time champion Rafael Nadal was unbeaten in French Open singles matches, having won every match and tournament since his debut in 2005. His victory against Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili in the second round on May 27 was his 30th consecutive win, breaking the record for the longest French Open winning streak by a man or woman, held by Chris Evert, who won 29 consecutive matches. Nadal extended the record to 31 consecutive matches by beating Lleyton Hewitt on May 29.
In his fourth round match on May 31, Nadal was defeated by World No. 23 Robin Söderling in four sets, 2–6, 7–6, 4–6, 6–7.[1][2] The upset result ended Nadal's French Open winning streak at 31 matches. Söderling had never previously reached the fourth round of any Grand Slam tournament, and had never previously beaten Nadal in three attempts, although he had taken him to five sets at Wimbledon in 2007. Söderling proceeded to reach the final, defeating Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets and Fernando González in five sets before losing to Roger Federer in his first Grand Slam final appearance.
Of the upset result, former three-time French Open champion Mats Wilander stated that "Everybody's in a state of shock, I would think. At some point, Nadal was going to lose. But nobody expected it to happen today, and maybe not this year. Now it's a matter of: There's a tournament to be won."[3] Nadal would begin another streak the next year, and did not lose another match at the tournament until the 2015 French Open, when he lost to Novak Djokovic.
After nearly a year out of the sport due to a serious shoulder injury which forced her to miss the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2008 US Open and her Australian Open title defence, Maria Sharapova, who started at World No. 53 by the time the entry list was released, then plummeted to as low as World No. 126 during her time away from the sport, entered the tournament ranked World No. 102 at the start of the tournament, and surprised many by reaching the quarter-finals, where she was defeated 6–0, 6–2 by Dominika Cibulková (Sharapova had to defend a match point at 0–6, 0–5 down). Sharapova, unseeded at a Grand Slam for the first time since 2003, had won all of her first four matches in three sets.
Federer's Career Grand Slam
Roger Federer won the finals, against Robin Söderling to finally win the French Open tournament for the first time in his career, after he was beaten in three previous finals by Nadal. With this win, he completed his career Grand Slam, titles in all four Grand Slam tournaments in his career. He became the third male player in the Open era (after Rod Laver and Andre Agassi) and sixth male player in tennis history overall to accomplish the feat.
Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan became the first male winner at this year's French Open. French favourites Julie Coin and Mathieu Montcourt enjoyed safe passages through to the second round, but compatriot Mathilde Johansson was unable to use the crowd's advantage, falling to Vitalia Diatchenko 2–6, 6–2, 10–8. Lleyton Hewitt came from 2 tiebreak sets down, taking a third set tiebreak and eventually the match over the 26th seeded CroatIvo Karlović, winning 6–7(1), 6–7(4), 7–6(4), 6–4, 6–3, to cause the first upset of a seed in the tournament. Karlovic set the new record for the greatest number of aces in the match, serving 55, but couldn't find a way to win.[4] French wildcardJosselin Ouanna came from two sets to one behind to defeat Marcel Granollers, 7–5, 2–6, 3–6, 7–6(2), 6–1. However, Amélie Mauresmo lost to Anna-Lena Grönefeld 6–4, 6–3, to add to her history of early-round exits at Roland Garros. However, seventh seed Gilles Simon recovered from a tight clash with Wayne Odesnik, 4–6, 7–5, 6–2, 4–6, 6–3. Former French Open champion Gastón Gaudio made a disappointing start to his grand slam comeback, losing in straight sets to Radek Štěpánek 6–3, 6–4, 6–1.
Day 4 saw the start of the second round matches in both the men's and women's draws. The first match up on Court Philippe Chatrier was world number 3 Andy Murray, who he faced Italian world number 104 Potito Starace. Murray was made to work hard, as Starace took control of the tie and levelled the match at one set all. At 5–1 in the third set, Murray worked his way back to reel of 6 games in a row, and went on the win 6–3, 2–6, 7–5, 6–4. World number 1 Dinara Safina was first up on Court Suzanne Lenglen, and made light work of Vitalia Diatchenko, winning 6–1, 6–1. Defending women's champion Ana Ivanovic also won comprehensively, beating Tamarine Tanasugarn to enter the third round. French tennis fans had reason to cheer as number 15 seed Alizé Cornet resumed her match from day 3, and beat Maret Ani 6–4, 7–5 to advance to the second round. Another Frenchwoman, Aravane Rezaï beat Slovenian qualifier Polona Hercog to book a tie with Portuguese qualifier Michelle Larcher de Brito in the third round, who beat number 15 seed Zheng Jie earlier in the day. Unseeded Maria Sharapova faced number 11 seed Nadia Petrova in her first match against a top 20 player since her 10-month absence from the tour due to injury. A gutsy Sharapova came through with a 3 sets victory, 8–6 in the third. Gilles Simon was the only seeded Frenchman playing on day 4, and made swift work of American Robert Kendrick 7–5, 6–0, 6–1. Defending champion Rafael Nadal made history by becoming the first person to win 30 consecutive matches at Roland Garros by beating Teymuraz Gabashvili. French wildcard Josselin Ouanna caused perhaps the biggest upset of the day by beating number 20 seed Marat Safin in an epic five set match, in which he won the final set 10–8.
Meanwhile, in the men's draw, Roger Federer was first up on Court Philippe Chatrier as he faced clay court specialist José Acasuso. Roger narrowly won the first set 7–6(8) in a first set tie-break, but Acasuso was not ready to falter, and came back stronger in the second set and eventually winning 7–5. Acasuso continued to put up strong resistance and took Federer to a third set tie-break, however Federer was too strong and won, from thereon Federer had little problem dispatching Acasuso winning the match 7–6(8), 5–7, 7–6(2), 6–2. Federer's victory set him up with a third round tie with FrenchmanPaul-Henri Mathieu. After disappointed from the French ladies, the men did not disappoint. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gaël Monfils and Jérémy Chardy and Marc Gicquel all advanced to the third round. No seeds were knocked out, as there were victories from number 5 seed Juan Martín del Potro, Andy Roddick and Tommy Robredo, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Igor Andreev and Jürgen Melzer.
Day 8 saw Rafael Nadal lose his first ever match at French Open to Swede Robin Söderling, which ended his streak of 31 wins in a row at Roland Garros. Also out was defending women's champion Ana Ivanovic. Former world number 1 Maria Sharapova continued her miraculous run by defeating Li Na 6–4, 0–6, 6–4 to reach the quarterfinals, after returning from nine months away from the game. Nikolay Davydenko beat Fernando Verdasco to advance to the quarters with Söderling. Fernando González beat Victor Hănescu in straight sets to set up a quarterfinal with number four Andy Murray, a winner over Marin Čilić in tight but straight sets. World Number 1 Dinara Safina continued her dominant run of losing just 5 games all tournament against Aravane Rezaï, winning 6–1, 6–0.
The men's singles final was briefly interrupted as Jimmy Jump carrying a FC Barcelona banner ran onto the court during the second set, running around Roger Federer and even putting a cap on him, then jumping over the net before being taken out by security. This is the first time this has ever happened at the French Open, however the occurrence did not seem to throw off Federer, as he won the set, and eventually the match. Federer also completed a career Grand Slam and tied Pete Sampras's record of 14 Grand Slam titles after winning the French Open.[19]
It was Federer's 2nd title of the year, and his 59th overall. It was his 14th career Grand Slam title (tying the all-time record set by Pete Sampras) and his 1st French Open title. In winning the French Open, Federer completed the career grand slam.
^Federer became the first Swiss player (male or female) officially to win the singles title, not counted results from Tournoi de France, which was during World War II. This win allowed Federer to be one of six men to claim a Career Grand Slam.
