Champs crash out in France

Sacre bleu! Rafa rolled out of Roland Garros with his head hung low, while Ana argued dizziness was the demon behind her early exit in Paris.

Nadal and Ivanovic, the reigning French Open champions, both crashed out in the fourth round this week leaving the tournament wide open and the two tennis icons wondering where it all went wrong.

Nadal, of course, remains the world No1, and deservedly so. But the "King of Clay" is no longer an undisputed title.

Until last month the Spaniard had gone 33 matches on clay without defeat, but his defeat to Sweden's Robin Soderling was the 23-year-old's second loss on his favoured surface in three weeks after finally falling foul of rival Roger Federer in Madrid on May 17.

Nadal, as feisty a character in front of the media as he is behind the net, was relatively calm and composed when quizzed on the 6-2, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) loss.

"Defeats never make you grow, but you also realise how difficult what I achieved up until now was," he said. "You need a defeat to give value to your victories."

Former women's world No1 Ivanovic was not quite as philosophical in explaining her defeat.

The 21-year-old has endured a torrid time since winning her first Grand Slam tournament in Paris last year.

A combination of injuries and poor form has seen Ivanovic slip from the top of the official WTA rankings to eighth in the world.

Before the French Open got under way last week, Ivanovic said she was feeling fit and ready to retain her crown, but after losing to 19-year-old Belarussian Victoria Azarenka, the Serb complained of struggling to find her balance.

"I started really well and felt really good at the beginning," she said after falling 6-2, 6-3.

"Then after the third game, actually after [the] first point in the fourth game, I just suddenly started feeling so dizzy and I completely lost my balance.

"Ever since then it was really hard. I struggled with looking up. I started feeling very dizzy, and I was struggling a little bit to find my balance."

The shock defeats dealt high-profile challengers such as Andy Murray, Nikolay Davydenko and women's world No1 Dinara Safina the perfect pre-match pick-me-ups as they each chase their first Grand Slam victory.

But only Safina could make the most of her chance as Murray succumbed weakly to Fernando Gonzalez while Davydenko fell to Nadal's conqueror Soderling.

Soderling and Gonzalez will now meet in the first of today's semi-finals. Federer faces Juan Martin del Potro in the other match.

Former world No1 Federer competes in his 20th successive grand slam semi-final and is not only chasing a maiden French Open victory at the Philippe Chatrier main court, but is also looking to tie American Pete Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slam titles.

If the Swiss is successful, expect the sounds of joie de vivre emanating through Roland Garros' hallowed hallways on Sunday.

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