Rafael Nadal Wins Men's Singles Title At French Open Without Dropping A Set

Following Rafael Nadal's French Open win, let's crack open the record books and see where he stands from a historical perspective.

- Nadal has now won five of the last six French Open singles titles, having compiled a 38-1 record at Roland Garros. The all-time career record, held by Bjorn Borg, is six, and there's no reason to believe that Nadal can't become the most dominant men's player in the 120-year history of the tournament.

No player has won any of the Grand Slam tournaments more than seven times.

- Roger Federer is the most accomplished player in the history of men's tennis. His 16 career Grand Slam wins dwarf Nadal's 7.

Remember, though, that Nadal is about five years younger than Federer. The two players have won the same number of Grand Slam titles before their 24th birthdays -- six -- and Nadal would actually trump Federer in this category if his birthday came four days later.

- Nadal won the 2010 French Open without losing a single set throughout the entire tournament. This is only the 14th time a Grand Slam tournament has been won in such decisive fashion, but it's the second time Nadal has accomplished the feat, having done so at the 2008 French Open.

On Saturday we saw the same Rafael Nadal we've seen throughout the French Open -- a man who refuses to lose a single set. Nadal topped Roger Soderling, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4, to win his fifth French Open championship.

Nadal's record at the French Open now stands at an incredible 28-1. His lone loss came last year against Soderling.

From NBC Sports:

It was the first time at the French Open where Nadal didn't have to beat Roger Federer in either the semifinals or the finals to earn the title; Soderling knocked out the defending champion in the quarterfinals.

The power game that had propelled Soderling to the championship didn't pose the same trouble for Nadal, and Soderling's serve wasn't as lethal as it had been in previous rounds either.

This is Nadal's seventh career Grand Slam win. He's still only 24 years old.

For all things tennis, check in with SB Nation's tennis blog, The Daily Forehand.

The men's doubles title at the 2010 French Open belongs to Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic. The pair bested India's Leander Paes and the Czech Republic's Lukas Dlouhy in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2, to win the final on Saturday.

For Nestor and Zimonjic, the second-seeded pair of the tournament, this makes their third Grand Slam title. They won together at Wimbledon in 2008 and 2009.

The win further crowds Nestor's trophy shelf -- in addition to his three doubles titles with Zimonjic, he holds three more Grand Slam doubles titles with Mark Knowles.

For all things tennis, check in with SB Nation's tennis blog, The Daily Forehand.

Italy's Francesca Schiavone -- the 17th-ranked women's singles player entering the 2010 French Open -- won the women's singles tournament at Roland Garros on Saturday. Schiavone took the title after winning straight sets over Australian Samantha Stosur, 6-4, 7-6 (2).

Schiavone's triumph can rightly be called a Cinderella story. She's only the second woman seeded out of the top ten ever to win the French Open singles title. This was Schiavone's 39th career Grand Slam tournament appearance, but only her first appearance in a Grand Slam final.

For Schiavone, this was an emotional win for more than one reason.

After Stosur's shot sailed out on match point, Schiavone collapsed to the court and kissed the clay in joy and relief. The first Italian woman ever to reach a Slam final, she is now also the first ever to win a major singles title.

For all things tennis, check in with SB Nation's tennis blog, The Daily Forehand.

Rafael Nadal will be back in his accustomed place in the finals at the French Open, after dispatching No. 22 Jurgen Melzer in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6). Nadal has not dropped a set throughout the fortnight at Roland Garros.

Nadal raced out through the first two sets rather easily, taking advantage of the 29-year old Meltzer's aggressive play at the net with a barrage of topspin-heavy passing shots, but got bogged down in a tight set third set. Nadal had a chance to serve for the match at 5-4 in the third, but Melzer broke him at love, eventually forcing a tiebreak. Nadal showed some uncharacteristic nerves, double-faulting and missing an overhead, but managed to keep his streak of not dropping a set at Roland Garros this tournament alive.

Nadal will meet No. 5 Robin Soderling in the final on Sunday, in a rematch of last year's shocking fourth-round match that saw Soderling become the first -- and only -- man to ever defeat Nadal on the clay courts of Roland Garros. The hard-hitting Swede is making a repeat appearance in the finals, after succumbing to Roger Federer last year, and is looking for his first career Grand Slam title.

If Nadal wins, he will not only capture what would be his fifth French Open title, but also retake the top spot in the world rankings from his rival Roger Federer, who is one week shy of tying Pete Sampras' all-time record for most weeks ranked No. 1 in the world. Should Federer lose the top spot, it might be quite awhile before he takes it back given the way the rankings work, as Federer has more points to "defend" this year than Nadal does after the Spaniard missed a good portion of last year with injury.

For the second straight year, Robin Soderling will play for the French Open championship. The big-hitting Swede defeated Tomas Berdych in a five-set match that lastest about 3 1/2 hours.

The two men were evenly matched in the first three sets, with Berdych going up 2 sets to 1 after winning the third, 7-5. But in the fourth, his serve began to fail him, and his first-serve percentage plummeted to about 50%. Soderling was able to take advantage in both the fourth and fifth sets, winning them both 6-3.

This now sets up the potential Soderling-Nadal rematch that was 1b on most tennis fan’s wish list (behind the always desired Nadal-Federer, obviously). The two played an epic match in the 2009 fourth round, which Soderling won. In order for the rematch to happen, Nadal must first get past Jurgen Melzer, who has emerged as the tournament’s Cinderella.

Samantha Stosur continued her inspired run of play at Roland Garros, dispatching No. 4 Jelena Jankovic in a brisk hour-long match, 6-1, 6-2. The seventh-seeded Stosur has already beaten four-time French Open champ Justin Henin, as well as top-seeded Serena Williams, before blasting past Jankovic, to reach her first ever Grand Slam final. Stosur, who earlier in her career was known more for her prowess as a doubles player, could be the first female Aussie to take home a Grand Slam title since Evonne Cawley in 1980.

Stosur will face No. 17 Francesca Schiavone in the final, who moved on after No. 5 Elena Dementieva retired after dropping the first set of their semifinal match 6-7 (3). Dementieva was fighting through a previously torn calf muscle, and was unable to continue, sending Schiavone to her first-ever Slam final as well.

Stosur will likely be the heavy favorite in the final, considering she has won her last four matchups with Schiavone in straight sets, two of which were on clay.

Rafael Nadal continued his mastery of Roland Garros in his quarterfinal round, winning a tight match in straight sets -- again -- over fellow Spaniard No. 19 Nicholas Almagro, 7-6, 7-6, 6-4. Nadal has yet to drop a set at the French Open this year, and, indeed, bettors were sanguine about his chances of making it through the fortnight unscathed, setting 7-to-2 odds that he would win without dropping a set -- and that was before Federer and Djokovic were bested.

Nadal will meet No. 22 Jurgen Melzer in the semifinals, after the Austrian mounted a furious five-set comeback over No. 3 Novak Djokovic, 3-6, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6, 6-4. Not only did the third-seeded Serb blow a two-sets-to-none lead, but he also went up a break in the third set, seeming to all but secure the victory, before Melzer suddenly reeled off six straight games to stay in the match. Melzer took the fourth set in a tiebreak, and then broke Djokovic at 4-4 in the fifth set and then served out the match.

The 29 year-old Melzer, who had never advanced beyond the third round of a Slam before, figures to be a massive underdog against Nadal on the clay courts of Roland Garros. If everything holds to form in the semifinals, Nadal would meet Robin Soderling in the final, in a rematch of last year's shocker that saw Nadal suffer his only career loss at Roland Garros.

Samantha Stosur made things more difficult on herself than they needed to be, but she eventually took out No. 1 Serena Williams in three sets, 6-2, 6-7, 8-6, in the French Open quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Stosur took the first set easily after breaking Serena twice. The second set was more competitive, but Stosur still had the chance to serve for the set, and the match, at 5-4. She was unable to take advantage, and failed to earn herself any match points as Serena broke back to even the set, and eventually the match at a set-all.

In the final set, Serena earned her first match point of the day with Stosur serving down 5-6. She saved that point, went on to win the game, and then broke Serena to take a 7-6 lead. She then served out the match easily, taking the win in a 2 1/2 hour match.

Stosur will play Jelena Jankovic in the semifinals on Friday. Jankovic took out Yaroslava Shvedova in straight sets earlier on Wednesday.

Last year Roger Federer made history at the French Open with a win; this year he did so with a loss. Indeed, while Federer both clinched the career Grand Slam and equaled Pete Sampras' then-record mark of fourteen career Slams with his breakthrough triumph at Roland Garros in 2009, this year his quarterfinal defeat at the hands of Robin Soderling produced a perhaps more startling record: the end of his consecutive Grand Slam semifinal streak.

And as Yahoo!'s Chris Chase explains, Federer's record of 23 straight semifinals is one of the all-time great marks in all of sports:

Though the record doesn't have the cachet of DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak or the staggering longevity of Cal Ripken's consecutive games mark, it should end up standing alongside those hallowed baseball streaks as the most impressive in the history of sport.[...] At the time Federer's streak began, the Open era record for most consecutive semifinal appearances was 10. Ivan Lendl held the record, which had stood at six before he broke it.

The term "mind-boggling" gets bandied about much too frequently, but in this case it's more than applicable. Consider: to reach this milestone, Federer had to demonstrate superiority in three areas: durability, consistency and versatility.

• Durability: This one is straightforward. Obviously, to reach 23 straight semifinals, you need to play in 23 straight Slams -- something Federer's only real rival, Nadal, has certainly struggled with, thanks to his own physically taxing style of play. That Federer can dominate without pushing his body to the breaking point is one of the most underrated aspects of his reign over the tennis world. As a coda, remember that Federer reached every Slam semifinal in 2008 despite being hampered by mononucleosis at the time.
  
• Consistency: Federer simply does not lose to bad players. At least not in Grand Slams. Falling to Marat Safin in an epic five-setter in the semifinals of the 2005 Australian Open was the closest Federer came to doing so, but Safin had one of his rare fits of trying during that tournament, so it certainly wasn't an embarrassing loss.
  
• Versatility: This is indubitably the most impressive facet of Federer's streak. Few players boast the variegated, all-court game to go far in all four majors. In fact, perhaps no one else does. Indeed, Nadal's hard court game is still a bit of a question mark despite capturing the Aussie Open last year, and while Novak Djokovic actually accomplished the feat of reaching every Slam semifinal in 2007, he's more or less unraveled since then. Clay courts are considered Federer's only "weakness" (witness his loss to Soderling on Tuesday), but the fact remains that were it not for the emergence of arguably the greatest clay-courter the game has ever seen in Nadal, that Federer would likely have taken home five French Open titles at this point.

For more on Federer and all things French Open, check out our tennis blog, The Daily Forehand.

One of the most unbelievable streaks in sport came to an end at Roland Garros on Tuesday as Roger Federer lost to Robin Soderling in the quarterfinals, thus snapping his streak of reaching 23 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals.

Federer was able to take the first set from Soderling, but from there on the Swede’s power became too much for the No. 1 player in the world to handle. Soderling used his massive forehand and huge serve to smash 49 winners, and break Federer four times en route to a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 upset.

At last year’s French Open, Soderling snapped another incredible winning streak by beating Rafa Nadal, who had won 31 straight matches at Roland Garros. Soderling went on to lose to Federer in the final last year, and was 0-12 lifetime against Fed coming into Tuesday’s quarterfinal.

The first women’s semifinal at the 2010 French Open is set: 17th-seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone will take on Elena Dementieva, a Russian 5-seed.

Schiavone advanced by upsetting the third-best woman in the world, Caroline Wozniacki, in straight sets. Schiavone was able to convert an outstanding 75% of her break point chances (6-8), which proved to be the difference in her 6-2, 6-3 victory. The upset makes Schiavone the first Italian female to reach the semis of a Grand Slam event since 1968.

Dementieva was able to avoid an upset of her own by battling back after losing the first set, 6-2, to fellow Russian opponent Nadia Petrova. The two-hour match concluded with Dementieva goose-egging Petrova in the third, 6-0.

Dementieva and Schiavone will face-off on Thursday for a berth in the championship match at Roland Garros.

As has become the norm, Nadal burst out of the blocks and romped into a 2-0 lead in the opening set but back came Bellucci with a break of his own to level at 2-2.

Nadal raised his intensity even further however, shrugged off that minor setback and blitzed his way to the next four games to wrap up the opening set.

But rather than throw in the towel in the second set, Bellucci, seeded 24th, fought fire with fire and matched Spaniard stroke for stroke in an enthralling 61 minutes of tennis.

But Rafa’s fire was too much for Bellucci to handle. Nadal defeated Bellucci – 6-2, 7-5, 6-4.

The Spaniard has yet to drop a set in the tournament.

USA’s Robby Ginepri is ranked No. 98. As the round-of-16 was played, it was a shock to see him as the last remaining American in the men’s draw. Ginepri came into Roland Garros with a 1-7 record for 2010 and a 9-31 career record on clay. The American did not just slide around a court, acting like he could hang with the top guns. Instead, he proved it, going four sets with the world No. 3 before losing – 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Djokovic, a two-time semifinalist, will take on Jurgen Melzer. Melzer is playing in his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

No signs of a cold kept Serena Williams from getting the job done against Sharar Peer. After losing the first seven points, Williams won the next nine in a row. No. 1 Williams knocked out the No. 18 seed, 6-3, 6-2 with the first set lasting under a half an hour.

Justin Henin also won her first set in just a half an hour. However, the Belgian – who hasn’t lost at Roland Garros since 2004 – was unable to handle Sam Stosur, losing in three sets, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Fourth-seeded Andy Murray has always had his struggles on clay, and he'd never finished higher at the French Open than last year, reaching the quarterfinals at Roland-Garros. As it turns out, replicating that performance was not in the cards for the Scotsman, as Murray was bounced in straight sets by the no. 15 seed, Tomas Berdych.

As The Guardian deftly explains, Murray's struggles were only exacerbated by difficult conditions, including a rain delay:

Berdych, seeded 15th, won 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 and deserves to go through to the quarter-finals, where he will play the fifth seed, Mikhail Youzhny. They finished in gloom that matched Murray's mood, although no amount of crazy scheduling could be blamed for the Scot's capitulation. He simply could not find the extra gear he needed to subdue an opponent who beat him twice as a teenager and whose concentration was barely disturbed in two hours 6 minutes, spread over most of the evening session, with a 35-minute break for rain.

While Murray said later that he did not want to complain about the conditions or the decision by the tournament organisers to leave them out there like a pair of drenched nightbirds, the break seemed to unsettle him, as did the damp, shifting clay and the soaked, near‑invisible balls.

"I didn't really get frustrated until the end of the second set," he said. "You need to be solid and stable to hang in there. I got myself back into it but struggled when we came back out from the rain delay. But he played a good match."

The winner of the Berdych-Youzhny quarterfinal will meet the winner of top-ranked Roger Federer and Robin Soderling. Or, in other words. Roger Federer.

Justine Henin has drawn plenty of interest at Roland Garros this year. She returned to the sport after retiring as the top-ranked women's player in 2008. After losing a hard-fought final to Serena Williams at the Aussie Open, Henin is making her mark at the French Open.

Henin beat Sharapova on Day 8, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, to reach the tournament's fourth round, but she's taking a pragmatic view of her progress.

"It's only a few tournaments I've played, I still need some time," said Henin. "It's going to be a year of transition.  I still think that, even if I had good results from the beginning of the season.

"I have ambitions to go as far as possible, but I'm also conscious that I'll have to work hard on my intensity, my concentration, and just to be more consistent all the time."

With this win, Henin advances to the fourth round.

For all things tennis, check in with SB Nation's tennis blog, The Daily Forehand.

The last time Bob and Mike Bryan held a trophy on the clay at Roland Garros was in 2003. And now they’ll have to wait another year.

Losing to Brazil’s Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6 (6), the brothers only slid around the clay for 77 minutes.

The 32-year-old identical twins ranked No. 1 in the ATP standings had won the last 31 of 37 matches entering the French Open. Had they won, the Bryan Brothers would have been one round closer to setting the Open Era record of 62 doubles tournament titles.

Melo and Soares are ranked No. 17.

At the 2010 French Open, Venus Williams' outfit was getting more attention than she was, and for the time being, it remains that way. In Round 4, Williams fell to Nadia Petrova in two sets, 6-4, 6-3.

[Petrova] controlled rallies with steady play from the baseline and finished strong, a problem for her in the past. Petrova swept the final four games and wobbled only once, shanking an overhead when leading love-30 in the final game.

She collected herself and won the final two points, closing out the match with an emphatic forehand winner.

This comes three weeks after Petrova ousted Williams' sister, Serena, at Madrid.

Later in Day 8, however, the sisters cruised in the women's doubles tournament, breezing past Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, 6-1, 6-2.

Further into Day 7, America's Andy Roddick lost to Russia's Teimuraz Gabashvili, 6-4 6-4 6-2. This upset marks yet another woeful chapter in Roddick's French Open history. Gabashvili smashed an astounding 58 winners, in contrast to Roddick's 14.

Elsewhere, Rafael Nadal moved past Lleyton Hewitt by the score of 6-3 6-4 6-3. He will play Thomaz Bellucci in Round 4.

For all things tennis, head over to SB Nation's tennis blog, The Daily Forehand.

During Round 3's action at Roland Garros, Serena Williams moved past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-1 1-6 6-2. There was brief cause for concern during the second set:

Ooh, Serena's having treatment. The doctor's out. She's having her temperature taken! This is no mere sprain or ache...

In the third set, though, Williams suddenly looked like her normal self, putting away Pavlyuchenkova to advance to the fourth round. She'll face Shahar Peer, who defeated Marion Bartoli on Day 7 to advance.

For all things tennis, check out SB Nation's tennis blog, The Daily Forehand.

Andy Murray is in uncharted waters at Roland Garros: the fourth round. The No. 4 seeded Murray beat back No. 25 Marcos Baghdatis in four sets, 6-2, 6-3, 0-6, 6-2, to advance past the third round for the first time in his French Open career.

After racing out to a two-sets-to-none lead on the Cypriot Baghdatis, Murray fell apart in the third set, seemingly packing it in after falling behind two breaks, and then was promptly broken at the beginning of the fourth set as well. But Murray immediately broke back, eventually running away with the fourth set -- and the match. Murray will meet No. 15 Tomas Berdych in the fourth round, who routed No. 17 John Isner in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1.

In other action, No. 3 Novak Djokovic moved on the third round after smashing Kei Nishikori in three sets, while No. 20 Stanislaw Wawrinka set up an all-Swiss fourth round matchup with his compatriot and noted tennis enthusiast Roger Federer, and No. 14 Ivan Ljubicic fought off American Mardy Fish to reach the third round in a marathon, back-and-forth five setter, 6-2, 6-7, 4-6, 6-2, 10-8.

Roger Federer did what Roger Federer does on Friday at the French Open: Demolished some guy you’ve never heard of.

Qualifier Julian Reister was the victim in the third round, showing up for his beating at the hands of the world’s best player, who cruised, 6-4, 6-0, 6-4, in about 90 minutes of play. Federer gave his opponent zero break chances, while converting five of his 13 opportunities.

Next up for Fed is a possible fourth round match-up with fellow Swiss player and part-time doubles partner Stanislas Wawrinka.

Elsewhere on Friday afternoon, 12th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez was routed in the second round by newcomer Alexandr Dolgopolov, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3. Gonzalez was a semi-finalist at Roland Garros last year, and typically excels on this surface. Dolgopolov is playing in his first Grand Slam event.

With the sun finally reemerging at Roland Garros for play on Friday, No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal enjoyed a tidy one hour, 45 minute match against 25-year-old Horacio Zeballos. Nadal broke his opponent four times throughout the first two sets, and once again in the third to win easily against the 2009 ATP Newcomer of the Year, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.

Nadal will next face the winner of Lleyton Hewitt in the third round.

Another former French Open champion was in action Friday morning, as top-ranked Serena Williams took on Julia Goerges. The match lasted under an hour, with Serena dominating, 6-1, 6-1. At one point, she won nine straight games.

Sacre bleu: one of France's favored sons became the first major seed to fall at the French Open during late action Thursday night. No. 13 Gael Monfils blew a two-sets-to-none lead over Italian Fabio Fognini, who prevailed 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 9-7 in a match marred by numerous rain delays. Indeed, Monfils and Fognini were forced to finish their match in near darkness -- but only after Monfils asked for them to be allowed to play into the dusk. Despite the fact that Fognini initially refused to continue playing as the visibility deteriorated, he was able to take advantage and get the break he needed to win. As Yahoo!'s Chris Chase notes, by the end, twilight had settled in such that:

It was so dark outside that the Shot Spot technology wasn't working because there were no shadows with which to gauge the positioning of the ball.

In other action, No. 4 Andy Murray prevailed in four sets, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2, over Argentine Juan Chela, while No. 6 Andy Roddick vanquished Slovenian Blaz Kavcic in four sets as well, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. For Roddick, advancing to the third round at Roland Garros marks his second-best career showing at the tournament, behind only his march to the fourth-round last year. Roddick joins fellow hard-serving American John Isner in the third round of a tournament whose surface has often proved quite treacherous for the Americans.

See this? Gael Monfils and Fabio Fognini were playing tennis outside when it looked like this.

Rain delays bumped match after match back in Day 4 of French Open action, and by the time play was halted on Philippe Chatrier, it was close to 10 p.m. It's unclear how things would have gone for France's favored son had they been allowed to continue -- Monfils may have been able to see all right, but he was walking unsteadily and had given up a two-set lead to Fognini. In HD it looked like an episode of True Blood, with all the grunting and shadowy flurries of activity.

It may not have been the best judgment call to even allow them to go on as long as they did, but a home crowd surely played a part in the decision. No matter. Whatever the motivation, the longer Monfils stays in a tournament, especially this tournament, the more entertaining it's going to be. Play will presumably pick back up again tomorrow with the gentlemen tied 5-all in the fifth set.

The only thing slowing down Roger Federer’s march to the third round of the French Open on Wednesday was the rain. Two weather stoppages only delayed the inevitable as Federer eventually finished off his Columbian opponent Alejandro Falla, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4.

It wasn’t a total breeze for Federer, however. He struggled in the first set, hitting 21 unforced errors and eventually being broken by Falla after saving five chances. Roger quickly broke back, and then took the tiebreak, 7-4.

Next up for the world’s No. 1 is Julian Reister, a German qualifier.

Still sporting her lacy black dress that has DIVIDED A NATION, Venus Williams was able to overcome a shaky first serve to defeat Arantxa Parra Santonja, 6-2, 6-4, in the second round of the French Open on Wednesday.

Williams struggled with her first serve, particularly her ball toss. She often took extra time before serving, and had to re-toss. For this match, the inconsistency didn’t matter though, as she was able to save Parra Santonja’s three break point chances, while breaking her opponent three times. Her serve could certainly become an issue moving forward, however, as the competition improves.

The other American in action early Wednesday was Tyler Dent, who had the misfortune of facing last year’s runner-up Robin Soderling in the second round. It did not go well. Soderling blew Dent off the court, only dropping two games in a 71-minute rout.

Ladies' action on Day 3 of the French Open produced one very unpleasant surprise:  No. 9 Dinara Safina fell, 6-3, 4-6, 5-7, to Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan, who is 39 years old (that's older than Michael Chang) and winning matches in the French Open.

Other marquee women fared better in straight sets, with Justine Henin defeating Tzvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-3 and Maria Sharapova besting compatriot Ksenia Pervak 6-3, 6-2.

For the nationalists out there, American women advancing today included Jill Craybas over England's Katie O'Brien and Bethanie Mattek over countrywoman Vania King.

Rafael Nadal played his first match at Roland Garros on Tuesday afternoon since losing in the semifinals to eventual runner-up Robin Soderling at last year’s French Open. The result: A straight set victory over 18-year-old French prospect Gianni Mina.

Mina had his chances in the match, earning himself nine break points, but he was ultimately unable to convert any of them. Conversely, Nadal was 6-for-12 on break point chances.

Next up for Rafa is the winner of Horacio Zeballos vs. Martin Fischer.

Tuesday morning at Roland Garros was an important one for the American men, with their first and third ranked players in action.

Andy Roddick looked strong in his first set of the season on the European clay, cruising 6-2 over Jarkko Nieminen. It appeared as if it would be an easy first round match for Roddick, but his Finnish opponent fought back, wining the second and third sets. In the fourth, Roddick evened the match by winning a tiebreak. He went on to take the fifth set after breaking Nieminen early, 6-3.

Roddick’s movement on the clay was shaky, an aspect of clay court play with which he always struggles. Not playing on the surface leading up to the French Open certainly doesn’t help. But the conditions were fast, which plays well into Roddick’s game.

Earlier in the day, two Americans faced off in their first round match as 18th-seeded Sam Querrey took on unseeded Robby Ginepri. Querrey took the first set before losing the next three as Ginepri was able to capitalize on mistakes — Querrey had 37 unforced errors.

It took four hours, but fourth-seeded Andy Murray finally won his opening round match at the French Open on Monday over Richard Gasquet.

France’s Gasquet won the first two sets, and was in prime position to win the match in straight sets after going up a break in the third. But then his fitness began to fail him, and Murray’s comeback began. It started by breaking back in the third set, which he eventually won, 6-4. From there, Gasquet’s conditioning slowly deteriorated over the final two sets, both of which he lost 6-2, 6-1.

For Gasquet, his strong showing against Murray should give him some confidence. He’s stuggled throughout this season, although he has moved back into the top 50 with a win at the Open de Nice Côte d’Azur leading up to the French Open.

Serena Williams needed a tiebreaker to win the first set against Stefanie Voegele on Monday, but rolled in the second set, ultimately winning her first match at the French Open, 7-6, 6-2. After being broken once, the top-seed saved three break points in the first set before winning the tiebreaker 7-2.

Serena served up 10 aces to go along with 22 winners.

On the men’s side, third-seeded Novak Djokovic advanced in four sets over Evgeny Korolev. After dominating the first set, Novak was broken twice in the second set, which he lost 3-6. He quickly bounced back, though, and won the match 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Normally when a relatively unknown American qualifier loses a match in the first round of the French Open it isn’t newsworthy. This happens all the time. But Monday morning’s result was something special.

American Michael Yani lost to Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 12-10. That’s a lot of numbers, so we’ll do the math for you: 71. That’s how many games the two played. If that sounds like a lot, it is. In fact, it ties the record for most games played in a French Open match since they started using tiebreakers at Roland Garros in 1973. (Obviously there are no tiebreakers in the final set.) The match started Sunday afternoon and had to be completed Monday morning after it was suspended due to darkness.

Some more fun stats to consider: Each player was broken just once over the 71 games … they played 483 points … they combined for 203 unforced errors to 185 winners.

The first matches of the 11 a.m. (Paris time) group are complete, highlighted by Roger Federer’s opening match at the 2010 French Open against Australia’s Peter Luczak.

The Polish-born challenger put up a fight in the first set, losing it 6-4 after being broken in the 10th game. From there, Federer cruised to a straight set victory, taking the next two 6-1, 6-2. Luczak had just one break point the entire match, which he was unable to convert.

Federer moves on to face Colombia’s Alejandro Falla on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, the No. 2 American, John Isner, won for the first time ever at Roland Garros, taking out Andrey Golubev, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. As usual, Isner was dominant on serve: His opponent never had a break point opportunity.

Isner’s fellow American, serve-and-volleyer Tyler Dent, also advanced, taking out Nicolas Lapentti in straight sets.

The lone upset of the day thus far came from Germany’s Julian Reister, who beat Spain’s Feliciano Lopez (ranked 27th in the world) in straight sets.

The biggest story from the first day of play at the French Open has nothing to do with the outcome of the matches: It’s all about Venus Williams’ outfit. If you missed it, a photo:

USA Today has a poll running, asking America what they think of the outfit. The No. 1 response: "They should have made her change," with 42% of the vote. Had anyone watched the Madrid Open last week leading up to the French, they would have seen this coming: She wore the same dress, but in a different color. Maybe black is just too sexy for America.

Oh, and Venus won the match, 6-3, 6-3, but was less-than-dominating. Williams had 21 errors and threw in eight double faults. But she advanced and managed to piss off America’s delicate sensibilities, so a success all around.

Here's the complete TV schedule for the 2010 French Open at Stade Roland Garros. In the United States, the tournament will be broadcast on the Tennis Channel, ESPN2, and NBC.

For more on the French Open, check in with SB Nation's tennis blog, The Daily Forehand.