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Rafael Nadal equalled Roger Federer’s all-time mark of 20 Grand Slam titles by winning his 13th French Open with an exhibition of clay-court tennis against great rival Novak Djokovic on Sunday.
Nadal moved level with the Swiss great for the first time in their long careers with a majestic 6-0 6-2 7-5 victory over world No 1 Djokovic.
Unbelievable, @RafaelNadal.
You now have 20 Grand Slam titles. #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/
NkDPeAYC7F
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 11, 2020.
The Serb was aiming to become the first man in the Open era to lift all the Grad Slam trophies at least twice, but he was met by an irresistible force in the dominant Spaniard.
Rain in Paris meant the roof was closed on Court Philippe Chatrier which favoured Djokovic, who once won 38 straight matches indoors.
The Serbian carried the confidence of knowing the only match he had not won this year was when he was defaulted at the US Open.
Nadal began the fortnight by claiming the cool and damp conditions, combined with heavier balls, would make this his toughest French Open to win. But he had made light work of it en route to the final, reaching the showpiece occasion in Paris for the sixth time without dropping a set.
And the Spaniard continued his stunning form by breaking in the first game before sweeping to a bagel set with an exhibition of shot-making against his great rival.
Djokovic was not helped by his serve, landing his first delivery just 42 percent of the time, and simply had no answer to the brilliance of Nadal.
In a virtuoso display, Nadal had the upper hand knowing he was 111-0 when he won the first set of a best-of-five match on clay.
Djokovic is one of only two men, along with Robin Soderling, to have beaten Nadal on the Parisian clay but the Spaniard was making him work his socks off to hold his own serve.
It took him 55 minutes to do so in the opening game of the second set, saving three break points. But that was as good as things got for the top seed as the king of Roland Garros re-established control by winning the next five games to clinch the set 6-2 – making just six unforced errors over two sets – to move within one of a historic milestone.
Djokovic knew he had to play flawless tennis in the third set, and although Nadal’s game had dropped off slightly from the heights of the first couple of sets, the 34-year-old appeared to take control by breaking down a deflated Djokovic in the fifth game only for the Serb to hit back immediately in his 10th return game before unleashing pure roar emotion in the process.
Some more relentless returning from Nadal eventually opened up a break-point chance in the 11th game, which was handed to him on a plate following a double fault.
The Spaniard served out the match-landing an ace to win it – before falling to his knees on the red dirt in celebration.
Vincent Paul
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