The Mallorca native also had his revenge on the only player to have ever beaten him in Paris, Robin Soderling. In a match that did not live up to its high billing, it appeared that the fight had been drained from Soderling in the five set marathon against Thomas Berdych as Nadal won in three straight sets of 6-4 6-2 6-4. He thus won the championship without dropping a set. Nadal also made a record by claiming the ‘Clay Slam’, comprising the Monte-Carlo, Internazionali BNL d’Italia and the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Masters and finally the French Open.
In the process, he denied former number one, Roger Federer the chance to claim the all time record for weeks at number one. Roger Federer held the number one position for 237 consecutive weeks.
The final match took two and a half hours to complete. In the first set Nadal broke his opponent in the fifth set and never looked back. Soderling pushed Nadal to 30-30 at 5-4 but Soderling sent a backhand wide and Nadal had a hand on the trophy.
The second set was a breeze for the Spaniard and he took the set in 29 minutes. Soderling then tried to make a game of it in the third but Nadal was not having any of it. The Swede was broken in the second game and after that it was just a matter of time.
Nadal wrapped up the set and the game when Soderling hit a forehand into the net behind an approach shot, and a forehand return into the net behind a heavy first serve from Nadal. Soderling then sent a backhand return wide across court and that was it.
Nadal remained unbeaten in the clay season. Last year was not a good one because of tendinitis of the knee but Nadal is back as the king on clay. Wimbledon will be where he starts to defend his world number one status and that is in three weeks.
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