Rafael Nadal of Spain serves to John Isner of the US during the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris May 24, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

Nadal's bid to equal Bjorn Borg's record of six championships at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament nearly came to a too-abrupt-to-believe halt.

Consider:

- Nadal entered the day 38-1 at the French Open, his only loss coming to two-time finalist Robin Soderling in the fourth round in 2009.

- Isner's career in Paris before Tuesday? One first-round exit and one trip to the third round, for a 2-2 record.

- Nadal is ranked No 1 and owns nine Grand Slam titles.

- Isner is ranked 39th and never has been past the fourth at a major tournament. He's best known to date for winning the longest match in tennis history, 70-68 in the fifth set at Wimbledon last year, and setting a record with 113 aces in that marathon.

- Until the first of Tuesday's two tiebreakers, Nadal hadn't lost a single set at the French Open since 2009. And he hadn't lost a set in any of 12 previous first- or second-round matches in the tournament.