SODERLLING HUMBLES NADAL AT O2

Rafael Nadal fell to a surprise 6-4 6-4 defeat in his opening Group B encounter against Robin Soderling at the ATP World Tour Finals in London.

The No 2 seed, who saw his 31-match unbeaten run at the French Open ended by the gutsy Swede in May, was never at the races at the O2 Arena.

Soderling, who only got his chance after Andy Roddick withdrew because of a knee injury, broke the Spaniard at the first time of asking.

But Nadal hit back, only to surrender the decisive break in the tenth game of the set when the out-of-sorts Spaniard sent a top-spin forehand long.

Thus emboldened, the rangy Swede powered his way through the second set mixing a venemous forehand with a solid backhand to keep Nadal scuttling into the corners.

Once again the tenth game was pivotal as Nadal saved one match point before going long to hand a surprise, but deserved, victory to Soderling.

"It was so nice. I was very nervous at the start but I got off to a great start in front of so many fans," an elated Soderling told Sky Sports.

"I managed to play really well on the important points and I really served well when I needed to. Winning against the world No 2 is not bad."

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