Rafael Nadal produced a brutal display of clay court tennis to destroy any hope that world No.1 Roger Federer might have had of adding a French Open title to his impressive resume of Grand Slam titles, with a crushing 6-1 6-3 6-0 victory in 1 hour and 38 minutes of utter dominance.

Nadal's victory puts him level with Bjorn Borg who achieved four consecutive titles here at Roland Garros from 1978 to 1981, achieving a total of six before his early retirement.

"Today, I played almost perfect", Nadal said. "Federer made more mistakes than usual.

"He didn't play very well because even if I am playing my best tennis it is impossible to beat Federer 6-1 6-3 6-0."

Nadal is now 28-0 here, losing just 7 sets out of 90, and there is no sign that he is about to loosen his absolute stranglehold of the French Open. He is every bit as dominant now as Borg was when he reigned supreme, and it will be interesting to see if the Spaniard will be able to go on and break the Swede's overall total of six.

Federer got off to a wretched start, dropping his opening service game with the aid of some woeful unforced errors on the forehand wing. Serving at 0-2, the Swiss had to dig deep to prevent the double break, quickly finding his first serve in the nick of time with two aces down the centre to get on the scoreboard.

From there, Nadal was relentless; he broke Federer to love with a backhand crosscourt pass for 4-1 and closed out the 32 minute opening set with a third break when Federer, serving and volleying, put his forehand volley long.

The partisan crowd who had cheered the underdog vociferously  from the start, were virtually silenced when the defending champion broke Federer for the fourth time as the Swiss forehand continued to spray losers with alarming regularity.

Suddenly, with his back to the wall, the world No.1 found the range on his erratic forehand and cracked a winner down the line and then set up two break points with an acutely angled backhand winner. Nadal, perhaps feeling the pressure from his opponent for the first time, dropped his serve with a forehand into the net.

With the score at 3-3, Federer looked like he was about to get another break, but he netted a backhand having chased down a Nadal drop shot.

Having held on, the Spaniard proceeded to win the next nine games as Federer's game and ultimately his will withered in the face of Nadal's sustained brilliance.

Nadal broke for 5-3 on his fourth break point with a rasping backhand pass down the line and closed out the set for the loss of just one point in the next game.

Mercifully for Federer, the end came very quickly thereafter as the Swiss timing, normally so impeccable, went from bad to worse.

Having broken the Federer serve for the third time in the third set with a rapier backhand passing shot that ripped past the lunging Swiss like a bullet, Nadal, serving at 5-0 and 40-30, claimed his fourth title when yet another Federer forehand failed to find the court, going long.

Given the one-sidedness of the contest, Nadal's celebrations were understandably far less exuberant than in previous years. A simple raising of the arms was enough this time to signify the easiest defence of his French crown so far.

Nadal also matched Bjorn Borg in not dropping a set in winning the title. The Swede achieved the feat in 1978 and 1980.

"I played more aggressive today, more inside the court", said Nadal as an explanation for his comprehensive victory. "I didn't play a typical clay court match. I was able to change the direction of the ball and hit my backhand more flat. I'm playing better than ever before."

A subdued Federer who must now wait another year to find a way to win the one Slam missing from his collection of 12, said Nadal was simply too good.

"I was hoping for a better outcome, but Rafa played well today, made it hard for me, and yeah, was better. It's a tough loss, but I tried and I hoped, and it wasn't enough.

"He's played a terrific tournament. He's dominated everybody he played these past two weeks. I definitely think he's improved."

Missing the break point opportunity at 3-3 in the second set was huge in the context of the whole match and Federer conceded that it was a pivotal game, opening the flood gates for Nadal.

"I didn't think it was going to happen when I missed that backhand into the net. But what can you do? I guess that was my best chance. But if that (breaking serve) would have completely turned the match, I don't know. I didn't come real close today so it's disappointing, because I really thought I was playing well the last few weeks and months.

To lose the way I did today, it's obviously hard and it's a rough loss, but it's okay. I'll move on from here, and I'll try again next year."

Andre Jones

Roland Garros

Paris

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