�No-one beats me 11 times in a row.� The words belonged to Robin Soderling, delivered with a smile at the Philippe Chantrier arena at Roland Garros, after Roger Federer had given him a lesson.

"No-one beats me 11 times in a row." The words belonged to Robin Soderling, delivered with a smile at the Philippe Chantrier arena at Roland Garros, after Roger Federer had given him a lesson in three sets in the French Open final earlier this month. Little did the Swede suspect he would have to put up or shut up so soon.

In addition to breaking his duck on the clay courts of Paris, and moving him equal with Pete Sampras of 14 grand slam singles titles, the win moved Federer's perfect record in the personal head-to-head between these two players into double figures. Ten times they have played, over five years and on three different surfaces. Only once has Soderling even been permitted to win a set.

Taking on the best grass court player of all-time on his favourite surface at centre court this lunchtime is no mean task. But Soderling's cause is not entirely hopeless. After all, already this season the Swede has managed to beat the best clay court player of all-time on his favourite surface. His four-set victory over Nadal at Roland Garros gives him the privilege of being the only man ever to beat him there.

He sees the similarities in the challenge at hand. "Yes I can take heart from it," said the 24-year-old. "Maybe it is the same challenge. Is very tough to beat Rafa on clay and it's as tough to beat Roger on grass. But I made it once so we'll see."

Soderling has been relatively untroubled so far at SW19, dropping just two sets on his route past Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, and Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Nicolas Almagro. The same is unlikely to be the case this afternoon. Included in those infamous ten previous meetings was a straight sets defeat at Wimbledon last year.

"I've played against Roger ten times and after each match I've never felt like I played well," Soderling added. "But its not because of me. Its because of him. He makes you play. I'd like to improve everything from Paris."

Federer is certainly not taking an 11th success for granted, the World No.2 insisting he was a little "worried" about the challenge provided by the Swede. "If you asked me before Paris, I would have said he's definitely more dangerous on grass than on clay, but then you saw all those great matches he played in Paris and you're worried," Federer said. "He has got a huge game. Now he's also got the taste of beating the top players. That only makes him more dangerous."

Federer appears to be in the toughest quarter of a draw which has an experienced look about it as it reaches the fourth round stage. He will face either seventh seed Fernando Verdasco or 6ft 10in Ivo Karlovic, who has served more than 100 aces already, if he defeats Soderling.

Fourth seed Novak Djokovic should have no problems against surprise package Dudi Sela while Tommy Haas - the winner of the recent grass court event in Halle - takes on 29th seed Igor Andreev.

While Lleyton Hewitt faces Radek Stepanek, Court No 1 will see Andy Roddick taking on Tomas Berdych, a 23-year-old from the Czech Republic. The American will be favourite but he is wary of the unpredictable 20th seed, who has beaten him twice in their four previous meetings.

"Berdych is streaky," said Roddick. "It's rarely middle of the road. He's either really good or not so good. Right now you expect to get the best of him with the way he's been rolling through the tournament so far. But he's got weapons. There's going to be times during the match where it's going to be out of my hands."

Assuming he can get past Stanislas Wawrinka, Andy Murray will face the winner of the match between eighth seed Gilles Simon and veteran Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain. The Spaniard battled past 10th seed Fernando Gonzalez in five sets late on Saturday, and knows he will be in a game this afternoon. "Simon likes to play on grass, he plays very flat," Ferrero said. "It's going to be very tough."

Tough opponent or not, Ferrero has some unfinished business against Murray. The British No.1 comfortably beat Ferrero at Queen's earlier this month but the former world No.1 has sent a warning to the Scot. "He played very well at Queen's but I didn't play my best," added Ferrero. "If it happens again it will be different. I am playing with more confidence, I am playing very well."

But it is Soderling who will get the action underway on Centre Court against Federer at 1pm. In addition to starting to make that personal head-to-head scoreline more respectable, the Swede also has the chance to beat Nadal and Federer in the calendar year of 2009.

The only other person to achieve that this year is a certain 22-year-old from Dunblane.