Nadal trumps Federer on Clay (again)

 

Roger Federer will have to wait at least one more year for another shot at winning the French Open title. On Sunday, Federer hurled everything at Nadal and still was found wanting as Nadal bet him 6-3.4-6,6-3,6-4 in a high quality match that lasted more than 3 hours. Nadal consistently attacked Federer’s backhand, sometimes more than 5-6 times in a single rally.

Federer did hit some incredible winners during the course of the match, but there were far to many unforced errors (60 on the whole to Nadal’s 28). By winning the title Nadal has become the first player since Bjorn Borg to win three French Open titles in a row. Now Nadal is one win away from equaling Henri Cochet’s 4 titles and once he reaches that milestone, the next big question would be if he could match Borg’s six French Open men’s singles title. As for Roger, he is already  looking ahead to Wimbledon. His coronation to the throne of greatest player of all time will just have to wait.

Henin demolishes Ivanovic

The Women’s final was a one-sided affair between World No.1 Justin Henin and the No.7 Ana Ivanovic. Ivavonic started well by breaking Henin’s serve in the opening game and was serving at 40-0 when nerves took hold of her and lost the next three points. Henin managed to win the game and from then on it was Henin all the way. The shots that would have been clear winners  against her semi-final opponent Maria Sharapova were tracked down by Henin. Also, Henin showed her usual willingness to come to the net and finish points on certain crucial occasions like on the match point. After an hour and 5 minutes the score read 6-1, 6-2 in Henin’s favor, her fourth French Open title and her third in row. She has not dropped a set here in her last two outings here and has not dropped a set in her four title matches here. Only Steffi Graf (6) and Chris Evert (7) have more single’s French Open titles than Justin Henin.