Tennis Rome Masters: Rafael Nadal has a life-size waxwork in Madrid's Museo de Cera and should a tall, dark-haired individual be caught sticking multiple pins into it between now and the start of the French Open later this month it will be Roger Federer.
For the third time in a final this year the 19-year-old Spaniard defeated the world number one, this time to retain his Italian Open title with a 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 victory in the most intensely dramatic of matches that lasted beyond five hours.
Federer, leading 6-5 in the fifth set, had two match points but on both occasions he missed with his forehand, which let him down much more than normal during an afternoon of rich and vivid excitement.
He then led 5-3 in the third and final tie-break, only for Nadal to deny him once again, the youngster throwing himself to the ground when a final Federer forehand went long.
This was Nadal's fifth win out of six against the Swiss, and the fourth in succession, including last month's ATP Masters series final in Monte Carlo, and last year's semi-final at Roland Garros, where the Spaniard went on to win the French Open title on his debut in Paris. He is an extraordinary young man, who by winning this final stretched his unbeaten sequence on clay to 53 matches, equalling the Open era record of Argentina's Guillermo Vilas, while at the same time tying Bjorn Borg's record of 16 titles as a teenager.
Nadal does not play soft points. His level of intensity, reminiscent of Jimmy Connors, is remarkable. Any young player who might doubt the correlation between effort and success needs only watch him once.
Federer, the winner of seven grand slam titles, must have believed he had finally nailed him but instead he will walk through the gates of Roland Garros with doubts continuing to nag. The French Open is the one major he has yet to win and, although he edged that little bit closer to beating Nadal for the first time on clay, the nature of this defeat is bound to play on his mind should the two meet again in Paris where, as here, they will be seeded one and two.
Although Nadal appeared to tire in the fourth set, as in last year's final against Guillermo Coria which also lasted more than five hours, he discovered fresh energy when it was most needed, cracking forehands of such pace and angle that even a player of Federer's skill could not cope.
The start, as was to be expected, was a little tentative, with Federer catching Nadal cold at the back of the court with a beautifully executed backhand drop shot that flopped into the clay like a feather, although when he tried to get to the net on the Spaniard's opening service game he twice saw the ball rip past him.
When a tennis ball is mistimed it frequently makes a popping sound like a champagne cork being extracted, and in the fourth game such a noise reverberated off the Spaniard's strings, the prelude to Federer taking a 3-1 lead. Nadal frowned and gave his socks an extra little tweak as he waited to receive, all too aware that his opponent was determined to take the initiative. Instantly he hit back and, despite huge pressure took the opening set into a tie-break after just over an hour of riveting play. But these were only the opening arias to the full-blown opera.
Nadal is due in Hamburg this week and will break Vilas's record should he beat Tommy Haas in his opening match.
• World number four Nadia Petrova beat French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the German Open final in Berlin yesterday.
- Guardian Service
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