Watch French Open 2009 Online: Free Live HD Andy Murray Streaming
The reverberations of Nadal's shocking loss to Soderling are still being felt around the tennis world. Nadal destroyed the Swede three weeks ago in Rome, losing just one game in his straight-sets victory.
Now that the King of Clay has been dethroned in France, the draw has opened up for Roger Federer to finally capture his elusive French Open title and complete the career Grand Slam.
Nadal had beaten Federer at Roland Garros each of the last four years.
Federer already had to be feeling fortunate when fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic was defeated by Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round.
Djokovic was Federer's primary threat in the bottom half of the draw after playing extremely well in the clay-court Masters Series events leading up to the French Open.
But Federer is going to have to increase his intensity, if he hopes to win his 14th Grand Slam championship and equal Pete Sampras' mark.
The Swiss star has played uneven tennis and has labored with inconsistent shot-making. The former world No.1 was severely tested by Jose Acasuso and needed four sets to dispatch Paul-Henri Mathieu.
In the fourth round, Federer was in major trouble, rallying from two sets down to post a comeback win over Tommy Haas.
Based on his dominance of Andy Roddick, Federer would have been the beneficiary of more good fortune, if the American had taken care of Gael Monfils in Round 16.
Monfils has bounced back from a recent knee injury and the Frenchman receives tremendous crowd support from the partisan Parisian fans.
Federer will have to dig deep again in his quarterfinal match against Monfils, but Roger should rise to the occasion knowing that he needs just three more wins to finally prevail in France.

.jpg)







