2009 French Open whilst Fernando Verdasco beat countryman Nicolás Almagro and Robin Söderling, the 23rd seed, set up a clash with Nadal by beating David Ferrer in four sets. Ágnes Szávay stunned third seed Venus Williams 6–0, 6–4, and Novak Djokovic beat Sergiy Stakhovsky. Additionally, defending champion Ana Ivanovic, Đoković's compatriot, advanced convincingly over Iveta Benešová, seeded 32nd, 6–0, 6–2. Andy Murray led Janko Tipsarević two sets to love before the Serb retired. Schedule of play Schedule of play Day 8 saw Rafael Nadal lose his first ever match at French Open to Swede Robin Söderling, which ended his streak of 31 wins
2016 Rafael Nadal tennis season 2016 Rafael Nadal tennis season The 2016 Rafael Nadal tennis season officially began on 4 January 2016 with the start of the 2016 Qatar Open. Nadal began his year at the Qatar Open. He faced compatriot Pablo Carreño Busta in the first round and managed a comeback by defeating him in three sets. He then defeated Robin Haase in straight sets but then required three sets to defeat Andrey Kuznetsov in the quarter-finals. Nadal then defeated Illya Marchenko in the semifinals in straight sets to advance to the final, where he faced Novak Djokovic for the title. Nadal was crushed,