Rafael Nadal wins fifth French Open title
Rafael Nadal has won the fifth French Open title of his career with a commanding performance against Robin Soderling in the final.
The Swede may be the first and only player who has defeated Nadal at Roland Garros (in the fourth round in 2009) but a repeat never looked likely in this year’s final, with the Spaniard playing his best tennis for the tournament in the deciding match.
The 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victory returns Nadal to the world No. 1 ranking, ahead of Roger Federer who is at least for now left stranded just one week shy of Pete Sampras’ record of 286 weeks at No.1.
It could be a while before Federer gets a chance to add that record to his impressive CV too, with Nadal to head to Wimbledon with no points to defend, after missing out on his title defence through injury last year, and the Swiss returning to the All England Club with a title to defend.
For now though, it’s all about Nadal, who is now just one French Open title away from equalling Björn Borg’s record of six championships at the clay-court Grand Slam.
It’s a victory that also means Nadal has concluded the clay-court season undefeated in four tournaments, after the left-hander won Masters 1000 titles on Monte Carlo, Rome and Madrid in the lead-up to the French Open.
“Very important victory for me. I think one of the most important victories in my career,” Nadal said after winning his seventh Grand Slam title, and his first since securing a maiden title at the Australian Open in 2009.
“I told you one hundred times, but [it] was a difficult year for me the last year. So after this tournament last year was a difficult year, and I worked a lot to be here. I was very nervous during all the tournament, because I know before that that I was ready to try to win another time, and I saw the chances there.
“But the very positive thing is today I was ready to play. I was ready to play with calm and to try my best and to enjoy the match. I did, and was a very special day.”
Nadal made just 16 unforced errors compared to Soderling’s 45 in the final, and while both players created eight break point chances, Nadal converted four of his while standing firm to remain unbroken for the entire match.
The 24-year-old’s cleaner brand of tennis and ability to chase down just one extra ball proved telling against the big-hitting Soderling, who had defeated Federer in the quarter-finals, but who made too many mistakes to stand a chance of breaking through Nadal’s defences in the final.
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