Nadal anger despite sending champ Grosjean crashing out

Spanish prodigy Rafael Nadal blasted the Roland Garros crowd for “behaving so badly” during his four-set victory over Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean in the fourth round of the French Open on Monday.

The match started on Sunday afternoon before falling victim to the rain when Nadal was leading 6-4 3-6 3-0.

The young Spaniard, who is the fourth seed in Paris, finished it off on Monday by winning 6-4 3-6 6-0 6-3.

But Nadal condemned the behaviour of the French fans, who he believes caused him to lose the second set on Sunday evening.

The start of the second set was interrupted for 10 minutes when Argentinian umpire Damien Steiner refused to check a debatable call that led to Nadal breaking the French player’s serve, and the crowd started booing.

Grand Slam supervisor Norbert Peick intervened and had a quick chat with Steiner, who stood by his decision, and the game finally resumed.

But Nadal, who claims he has never experienced such an incident before, admitted that the stoppage had affected him.

“The crowd did not behave well at all, but this is France and what they did was a silly thing,” said Nadal during his press conference.

“I have never seen that happen in Spain. The umpire was absolutely right but then the crowd got rowdy and started whistling.

“I think we should have gone back to the changing room until the crowd quietened down but instead we waited for 10 minutes. It really did make me lose my concentration.”

However Nadal was clearly happy with the eventual outcome of the match.

“The court was much better for me and I played far better as well,” he added. "I was very tense on Sunday and my concentration had gone, and it was not an easy win overall. But I am glad I managed to win that match.”

Grosjean, who came into the tournament as the 23rd seed, admitted he was just not good enough in the clash.

“I had a few opportunities to break him in the fourth set and I did not convert them,” the Frenchman said.

“He is one of the best players in the world on clay and when you make mistakes like that against him you pay.”

Meanwhile last year’s champion Gaston Gaudio of Argentina and his compatriot and runner-up Guillermo Coria both bowed out at the fourth round stage.

Despite leading 4-0 in the final set, Gaudio was defeated 2-6 6-4 7-6 (7/5) 5-7 6-4 by Spanish 20th seed David Ferrer while Coria suffered a four-set loss at the hands of Russian 12th seed Nikolay Davydenko 2-6 6-3 7-6 (7/1) 6-2.

Argentinian ninth seed Guillermo Canas had a walkover as his opponent, Germany’s Nicolas Kieffer, pulled out before the start of the match with arm and neck problems.

Canas will face unseeded Argentinian Mariano Puerta, who thrashed countryman Jose Acasuso in straight sets 6-4 6-1 6-1 in the final fourth-round match.