Nadal-Soderling rematch set in French Open

PARIS, June 4 (UPI) -- Rafael Nadal will go against Robin Soderling, the only man to have beaten him at the French Open, for the tournament title.

Nadal, No. 2 in the world, got by 22nd-seeded Jurgen Melzer 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) after the fifth-seeded Soderling came from behind for a 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 win over No. 15-seeded Tomas Berdych.

Nadal improved to 21-0 this year in matches on clay courts by beating Melzer and is 37-1 lifetime at Roland Garros. That lone loss came last year when Soderling took a four-set victory over Nadal.

Nadal will have a chance to avenge that loss and regain the French Open title he owned from 2005-08 when he plays Soderling Sunday. Soderling, whose only other Grand Slam final appearance ended in a loss to Roger Federer in Paris last year, has won his last two meetings with Nadal after losing their first three matches.

The only slip in Nadal's semifinal came when he was serving for the match at 5-4 of the third set only to have Melzer charge back with his second break of the match and then force a tie-breaker. It took Nadal three match point tries before a shot into the next by Melzer returned Nadal to the finals.

Before that the match was all Nadal. He ended up with five service breaks and won 72 percent of the points on serve.

Soderling had a much more difficult time with Berdych, committing 63 unforced errors with 31 coming in the two sets he lost. On the plus side, Soderling had 18 aces, 63 winners and six service breaks.

Three of the breaks came in the fifth set and included back-to-back breaks in the seventh and ninth games that turned a 3-3 tie into a finals berth for Soderling.