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Hispanic Rafael Nadal Retains French Open Title
The 20-year-old Spaniard became the first man to beat Federer in a Grand Slam final, winning 1-6 6-1 6-4 7-6 (7-4) in three hours two minutes. Federer suffered an alarming slump in form after an impressive first set. And Nadal took full advantage, dominating for three sets and sealing victory on his first match point.
Nadal has now won 60 consecutive matches on
clay and is unbeaten at Roland Garros with a 14-0 record after winning on
his debut last year.
The Swiss star went into the match with a poor 1-5 record against Nadal but insisted he was confident of turning things around. He made a nervous start, slipping 15-40 down in his opening service game, but coming through to hold seemed to instil belief in the Swiss star. Federer broke Nadal immediately and then repeated the effort to go 5-0 up on his way to taking the first set. It was at that point that the enormity of what could happen appeared to hit Federer, and his game unravelled. Nadal had missed five break points in the first set but finally converted his seventh to go 2-0 up in the second set and he raced through it to level. A total of 16 unforced errors from Federer told the story of the second set and it was a similar story in the third. Federer's big chance came with three break points in game five but Nadal held from 0-40 and then broke in the following game. The Spaniard served out the set and when he broke early in the fourth the title appeared to be his. There was one last effort from a low-key Federer, with Nadal feeling the pressure when serving for the title at 5-4. But it was only a momentary blip from the 20-year-old, who took control of the tie-break with four straight points and clinched the match with a winning forehand. |
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PARIS
(BBC) June 11, 2006 Rafael Nadal retained his French Open title and ended
Roger Federer's hopes of holding all four Grand Slam titles at once with a
four-set win on Sunday. 
It was a huge anti-climax
for Federer, who failed to maintain anything like his best form as he tried
to join Don Budge and Rod Laver as the only men to hold all four Grand Slam
titles at the same time. 
