Nadal falls to nemesis Soderling at ATP Finals

LONDON (AP) — Rafael Nadal lost to Robin Soderling for the second straight time, falling 6-4, 6-4 Monday in their opening round-robin match at the ATP World Tour Finals.

Soderling, who handed the Spaniard his first loss on clay at the French Open this year, powered his way through the Group B match by mixing a hard forehand with a solid backhand to keep Nadal running all over the hard court at the O2 Arena.

“He is a big player in this surface, so [it] is difficult,” Nadal said. “I didn’t play really bad. But in the important moments, I didn’t have this calm, this necessary calm, to win these matches against the best players of the world.”

In the late match, Novak Djokovic rallied from a poor start to beat Nikolay Davydenko 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 and move a step closer to the semifinals of the season-ending tournament for the top eight players in the world.

The second-ranked Nadal can still advance, but likely needs to win his two remaining group matches. He also has a chance to claim the year-end No. 1 ranking from Roger Federer, but Monday’s loss hasn’t helped.

“If you want to still talk about me [being] No. 1, I can, but I think is not the right moment. My level right now I think is not to be No. 1,” Nadal said. “My level is to be still fighting and practicing hard to be ready as soon as possible to compete another time with equal conditions with everybody.”

Soderling won both sets by breaking Nadal in the final game. Before the end of the first set, however, Nadal had thought he won the game and evened the score at 5-5.

Serving at 40-30, Nadal allowed himself a moment of celebration when his first serve whizzed by Soderling. But before the Spaniard was able to really let his emotions loose, his serve was called long.

Off the second serve, Nadal sent a forehand long, setting up deuce. Two more mistakes off the forehand gave his Swedish opponent the game and the set.

“After the first three games, he started to play better. But I still knew that I was serving well, and I will get my chances in his service game,” Soderling said.