Nadal and Soderling forced into third day as rain falls

LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) Rafael Nadal's rain-affected match against Robin Soderling was suspended at 4-4 in the final set and will stretch into a third day at Wimbledon after only 20 minutes of play was completed today.

French Open champion Nadal, who squandered a match point in the third round tie yesterday, returned to Court One 2-0 up in the fifth set but a nervous start gave Soderling the break and the Swede held his service game to level the score.

Spain's Nadal pulled off a wonder shot to take the next game, diving to his right and gently dropping the ball over the net.

But then inevitably the rain, which has plagued the match since the players initially began warming up on Saturday, returned after just eight minutes of tennis.

Nadal was on the back foot once again when play resumed, saving two break points. However the session only lasted 12 minutes before the storms returned with the second seed preparing to serve and the score at 6-4 6-4 6-7 4-6 4-4.

It was the fifth rain break of the match.

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