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.
The 20-year-old Spaniard became the first man to beat Federer in Grand Slam final, winning 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6. Federer suffered an alarming slump in form after an impressive first set. And Nadal took full advantage.
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. 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 Lavers as the only men to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time.
The Swiss star went into the match with a poor 1-5 record against Nadal. 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. 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.
Released on: Jun 14, 2006
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