Nadal Forms a Feat of Clay

By Lisa Dillman

May 30, 2006 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

PARIS — The King of Clay already conquered his own generation, so Rafael Nadal found a new challenge as he reached back into another era with his left hand and took out another legend Monday.

On a crisp, wind-swept day at the French Open, the Spaniard notched his 54th consecutive victory on clay, surpassing Guillermo Vilas’ Open-era record of 53 straight wins.

Nadal defeated Robin Soderling of Sweden in the first round, 6-2, 7-5, 6-1. His last loss on clay was on April 7, 2005, in Valencia, Spain, against Igor Andreev.

“For me, it’s special because 54 victories is very, very difficult,” Nadal said. “A lot of tournaments, a lot of matches. It’s not normal because one day you can have bad luck, anything. It’s important for me to be in the history.”

The precocious left-hander hit 54 before reaching 20 -- his 20th birthday is Saturday. Last year, he celebrated his birthday by beating Roger Federer in the semifinals here on his way to the title.

Who knows what he will do for an encore? Monday, Nadal wasn’t about to spoil a party. Vilas was on hand to watch as well as participate in a post-match ceremony. Belief in Nadal’s ability was such that officials were poised to give him a glass trophy representing the geological formation of a clay court.

A loss and the trophy probably would have landed on EBay by the end of the week.

Still, 54 didn’t come without a brief spell of drama. Soderling broke Nadal’s serve in the sixth game of the second set at 15, and later had a point for a 5-2 lead. The other area of concern came with gusts blowing the clay off the court.

Nadal wasn’t pleased by the conditions and asked that the chair umpire have more clay put down during the second set. After all, the King of Clay doesn’t want his kingdom vanishing, but his request was denied.

In the end, it didn’t matter. Soderling put a forehand into the net on the final point. Nadal, though thrilled, somewhat tempered his celebration. He clapped his hands above his head in acknowledgment of the fans -- the way soccer players do after victories -- and later hugged Vilas.

Monday came off without any significant upsets.

That worked pretty well for the Americans, whose winners were James Blake, Venus Williams, Ashley Harkleroad and Kevin Kim. Vania King of Long Beach squandered a 4-1 lead and played a 24-point first-set tiebreaker against Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine, who won, 7-6 (11), 6-2.

But the day belonged to Nadal. Vilas’ record, set in 1977, came to a halt with a controversial match against Ilie Nastase in Aix-en-Provence, France, when Nastase used a double-strung racket, which was later banned.

“It was really the racket,” Vilas said. “I didn’t lose against a player, I lost against a racket.”

Legends often have a problem losing certain records, and Vilas apparently was no exception. In a Reuters interview before Monday’s match, he downplayed Nadal’s accomplishment, saying it came over two years and he thought Nadal added “easy tournaments” to his schedule.

After Nadal’s victory, Vilas opted to travel the high road.

“Great player. Nice player. Very good for tennis,” Vilas said. “He will inspire a new generation of players. I think [Bjorn] Borg and myself, we made every player train harder, prepare physically to endure long matches.... This guy is going to tell the guys to get tougher in their head, the way he is.”

American Justin Gimelstob thought Nadal was on pace to become the best clay-court player.

“That’s a big statement, obviously, with Borg’s record and stuff,” he said. “He’s eons better, in my opinion, than someone like [Thomas] Muster or other guys that dominated clay-court seasons.... What this guy does physically is insane. His movement, his ability to play offense and defense, and he’s not even 20 years old.”

Nadal’s next opponent is Kim, of Newport Coast, who defeated qualifier Julio Silva of Brazil, 7-5, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), in the first round.

Kim got in as a lucky loser, having fallen in the final round of qualifying. He was poised to go to a challenger event next week in the Czech Republic had three players not pulled out of the main draw.

“I called back and they said, ‘You’re in the draw.’ I was like, ‘Are you sure?’ ” Kim said. “And they’re like, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘Kim, it’s not women’s [draw], this is men’s.... ‘ “

Kim has never played, practiced or spoken with Nadal. But there was a moment of connection with the Kim family and Nadal on Monday.

“My mom got his autograph today. So I guess I’m going down already,” Kim said, smiling.

At a glance

Monday at the French Open:

* Selected men’s seeded winners: No. 2 Rafael Nadal, No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko, No. 8 James Blake, No. 10 Gaston Gaudio, No. 12 Mario Ancic, No. 13 Nicolas Kiefer, No. 11 Radek Stepanek, No. 20 Tomas Berdych.

* Men’s seeded loser: No. 16 Jarkko Nieminen (retired with stomach cramps).

* Selected women’s seeded winners: No. 2 Kim Clijsters, No. 6 Elena Dementieva, No. 7 Patty Schnyder, No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova, No. 9 Francesca Schiavone, No. 11 Venus Williams, No. 16 Nicole Vaidisova.

* Women’s seeded losers: No. 18 Elena Likhovtseva, No. 28 Lucie Safarova.

* On court today: Defending women’s champion Justine Henin-Hardenne, Martina Hingis, Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt.

CLAY-COURT WINNING STREAKS

Open era (1968-present):

* 54: x-Rafael Nadal, Apr. 2005-current

* 53: Guillermo Vilas, May-Oct. 1977

* 46: Bjorn Borg, Oct. 1977-May 1979

* 40: Thomas Muster, Feb.-June 1995

* 38: T. Muster, Aug. 1995-Apr. 1996

* 38: Ilie Nastase, May-Oct. 1973

x-through May 29