Rafael Nadal defeats Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the Masters Series Rome final on Sunday afternoon. It is Nadal’s third clay-court title in three tries this season.
To the surprise of no one, the King of Clay has struck again.
Rafael Nadal picked up his third clay-court title of this spring season on Sunday afternoon, dispatching Novak Djokovic 7-6(2), 6-2 in the final of the Masters Series Rome. Nadal needed two hours and three minutes to capture his fourth winner’s trophy in Italy’s capital city.
The majority (74 minutes to be exact) of those two hours and three minutes were spent in a grueling, back-and-forth first set. Nadal broke serve in the opening game of the match and for a while it looked like that would be enough, as both players held in routine fashion the rest of the way until Djokovic served at 3-5. The world No. 1 missed a set-point chance with a backhand error and Djokovic went on to hold for 4-5. Suddenly, a series of three straight breaks began. Djokovic broke for 5-5, gave it back immediately with a dreadful service game, then broke to force a tiebreaker when his opponent shanked a forehand.
Having already thrown away an advantage on two occasions, Nadal was not about to let an early lead in the ‘breaker go to waste. He seized a mini-break for 3-1 when Djokovic sprayed a backhand long and never looked back. Nadal closed out the decider seven points to two when Djokovic netted a backhand drop-shot attempt.
With momentum in hand, Nadal struggled to put the Serb away right at the start of set number two. He lost four points in-a-row to go down break point after racing to a 40-0 lead, but the No. 1 seed survived it when Djokovic missed a lob. Nadal ended up holding before it was Djokovic’s turn to come through a tough service game for 2-2. Tied up in the set at two apiece, it was all downhill from there for the world No. 3. He finally cracked physically under the heat of Nadal’s relentlessness, and a double-fault on break point at 2-3 all but ended any lingering suspense. After holding easily for 5-2, Nadal finished off the proceedings with a forehand pass for a final, title-clinching break of serve.
Nadal improves his head-to-head record over Djokovic to 13-4, including 8-0 on clay. Djokovic will move on to his hometown tournament, the Serbia Open, where he is the No. 1 seed. Nadal will take a rare break before another clay-court Masters Series event in Madrid.
