The 2009 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 108th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from May 24 through June 7, 2009.
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.French Open 2009: Rafael Nadal dumped out by Robin Soderling - Telegraph 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."Nadal Loses In French Open 2009: Defeated By Robin Soderling 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.
Maria Sharapova's comeback
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.
Singles players Men's singles Champion Runner-up Roger Federer Robin Söderling Semifinals out Fernando González Juan Martín del Potro Quarterfinals out Nikolay Davydenko Andy Murray Tommy Robredo Gaël Monfils 4th round out Rafael Nadal Fernando Verdasco Marin Čilić Victor Hănescu Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Philipp Kohlschreiber Andy Roddick Tommy Haas 3rd round out Lleyton Hewitt David Ferrer Stanislas Wawrinka Nicolás Almagro Janko Tipsarević Radek Štěpánek Josselin Ouanna (WC) Gilles Simon Igor Andreev Christophe Rochus Máximo González Novak Djokovic Marc Gicquel Jürgen Melzer Jérémy Chardy Paul-Henri Mathieu 2nd round out Teymuraz Gabashvili Andrey Golubev Denis Istomin Nicolas Kiefer Diego Junqueira Nicolás Massú Ernests Gulbis Philipp Petzschner Potito Starace Feliciano López Mathieu Montcourt (LL) Dudi Sela Rui Machado (Q) Marat Safin Mikhail Youzhny Robert Kendrick Viktor Troicki Martín Vassallo Argüello Arnaud Clément Juan Mónaco Daniel Gimeno Traver Andreas Seppi Juan Carlos Ferrero Sergiy Stakhovsky (Q) Ivo Minář Andreas Beck Guillaume Rufin (WC) Victor Crivoi (Q) Leonardo Mayer (Q) Simone Bolelli Pablo Andújar José Acasuso 1st round out Marcos Daniel (Q) Igor Kunitsyn Denis Gremelmayr Ivo Karlović Kevin Kim Santiago Giraldo Ilija Bozoljac Frederico Gil Stefan Koubek (PR) Paul Capdeville Daniel Köllerer Nicolas Devilder Agustín Calleri Sam Querrey Peter Polansky (Q) Florent Serra Juan Ignacio Chela Mischa Zverev Albert Montañés Franco Ferreiro (Q) Gastón Gaudio (WC) Lu Yen-hsun Jean-René Lisnard (Q) Jan Hernych Jiří Vaněk (Q) Kristof Vliegen Marcel Granollers Alexandre Sidorenko (WC) Steve Darcis Gilles Müller Daniel Brands (Q) Wayne Odesnik Michaël Llodra Łukasz Kubot (Q) Thomaz Bellucci Fabio Fognini (Q) Dmitry Tursunov Fabrice Santoro Marcos Baghdatis Julien Benneteau Adrian Mannarino (WC) Evgeny Korolev Guillermo García López Mardy Fish Bernard Tomic (WC) Ivan Ljubičić Brian Dabul Nicolás Lapentti Romain Jouan (WC) Óscar Hernández Iván Navarro Rainer Schüttler Sergio Roitman Eduardo Schwank Simon Greul (Q) Bobby Reynolds James Blake Andrei Pavel (PR) Thiago Alves (LL) Tomáš Berdych Laurent Recouderc (WC) Robby Ginepri Santiago Ventura (Q) Alberto Martín
Women's singles
Champion Runner-up Svetlana Kuznetsova Dinara Safina Semifinals out Dominika Cibulková Samantha Stosur Quarterfinals out Victoria Azarenka Maria Sharapova Sorana Cîrstea Serena Williams 4th round out Aravane Rezaï Ana Ivanovic Ágnes Szávay Li Na Jelena Janković Virginie Razzano Agnieszka Radwańska Aleksandra Wozniak 3rd round out Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Michelle Larcher de Brito (Q) Carla Suárez Navarro Iveta Benešová Venus Williams Gisela Dulko Yaroslava Shvedova (Q) Olga Govortsova Jarmila Groth Caroline Wozniacki Tathiana Garbin Elena Dementieva Melinda Czink Kateryna Bondarenko Lourdes Domínguez Lino María José Martínez Sánchez 2nd round out Vitalia Diatchenko Julie Coin Polona Hercog (Q) Zheng Jie Kristina Barrois Lucie Hradecká Alla Kudryavtseva Tamarine Tanasugarn Lucie Šafářová Elena Vesnina Kirsten Flipkens Anna-Lena Grönefeld Nadia Petrova Arantxa Rus (Q) Timea Bacsinszky Akgul Amanmuradova Magdaléna Rybáriková Mariana Duque Mariño (LL) Alizé Cornet Jill Craybas Marion Bartoli Anabel Medina Garrigues Yanina Wickmayer Jelena Dokic Galina Voskoboeva Sybille Bammer Olivia Rogowska (WC) Mariya Koryttseva Alexa Glatch Petra Martić (Q) Viktoriya Kutuzova Virginia Ruano Pascual 1st round out Anne Keothavong Mathilde Johansson Nuria Llagostera Vives Raluca Olaru Alisa Kleybanova Ai Sugiyama Melanie South Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro Roberta Vinci María Emilia Salerni (PR) Yvonne Meusburger Edina Gallovits Julia Görges Varvara Lepchenko Camille Pin Sara Errani Bethanie Mattek-Sands Sabine Lisicki Séverine Brémond Beltrame Corinna Dentoni (Q) Alona Bondarenko Stéphanie Foretz Tamira Paszek Amélie Mauresmo Lauren Embree (WC) Anastasiya Yakimova Olivia Sanchez (WC) Kaia Kanepi Marta Domachowska Émilie Loit (WC) Irena Pavlovic (WC) Katie O'Brien (LL) Petra Cetkovská Kristina Mladenovic (WC) Kinnie Laisné (WC) Anna Chakvetadze Maret Ani Carly Gullickson (Q) Tsvetana Pironkova Vera Dushevina Pauline Parmentier Ayumi Morita Daniela Hantuchová Ekaterina Makarova Francesca Schiavone Urszula Radwańska Karolina Šprem Chanelle Scheepers (Q) Claire Feuerstein (WC) Sania Mirza Anastasija Sevastova (Q) Nathalie Dechy Patty Schnyder Maria Kirilenko Patricia Mayr Rossana de los Ríos Flavia Pennetta Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová Mara Santangelo Monica Niculescu Peng Shuai Zuzana Ondrášková (Q) Nicole Vaidišová Klára Zakopalová
Day-by-day summaries
Day 1 (May 24) 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 Croat Ivo 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.Karlovic–Hewitt Match Statistics French wildcard Josselin 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. Seeds out: Men's Singles: Ivo Karlović Women's Singles: Amélie Mauresmo, Kaia Kanepi Schedule of Play
Matches on main courtsMatches on Court Philippe Chatrier (Center Court) Event Winner Loser Score Women's singles 1st round Ana Ivanovic (8) Sara Errani 7–6(3), 6–3 Men's singles 1st round Marat Safin (20) Alexandre Sidorenko (WC) 6–4, 6–4, 6–4 Men's singles 1st round Gilles Simon (7) Wayne Odesnik 3–6, 7–5, 6–2, 4–6, 6–3 Women's singles 1st round Anna-Lena Grönefeld Amélie Mauresmo (16) 6–4, 6–3Matches on Court Suzanne Lenglen (Grandstand) Event Winner Loser Score Women's singles 1st round Vitalia Diatchenko (Q) Mathilde Johansson 2–6, 6–2, 10–8 Men's singles 1st round Fernando Verdasco (8) Florent Serra 6–2, 6–1, 6–4 Women's singles 1st round Nadia Petrova (11) Lauren Embree (WC) 6–1, 6–2 Men's singles 1st round Andy Murray (3) Juan Ignacio Chela 6–2, 6–2, 6–1
Day 2 (May 25)