Nadal beats Djokovic to win Monte Carlo Masters

04:46 04/12/2013
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  • Rafael Nadal created yet another entry for his name in the history books after defeating world No.1 Novak Djokovic to win an eighth consecutive Monte Carlo Masters title and become the first player to win the same tournament eight years in a row.

    Nadal outclassed the Monaco-resident 6-3, 6-1 in 70 minutes to claim a record-breaking 20th Masters 1000 crown and end a ten-month title drought dating back to the French Open last year.

    It seemed like it was a weekend of hitting back as the Spaniard followed up the Clasico victory of his favourite team Real Madrid at Barcelona on Saturday, with a first win over Djokovic in eight meetings. “After seven times, thank you for this one,” said a smiling Nadal to his conqueror in seven painful finals over the past 12 months.

    Despite being the undisputed ‘King of Clay’, Nadal entered this match as an underdog having not beaten Djokovic since the 2010 ATP World Tour Finals, and many believed the Serb ace was finally going to win his first title in Monte Carlo yesterday.

    But ultimately in an unlikely scenario, the king trumped the ace to reclaim his supremacy on the dirt and extend his winning streak in Monaco to 42 straight wins.

    The first two games gave a false indication that perhaps it was going to be another Djokovic victory as the top seed held to love and pushed Nadal to 30 on the Mallorcan’s serve.

    But things changed quickly when the defending champion broke Djokovic in the third game thanks to some erratic backhand errors from the Serb and some vintage striking from Nadal.

    The 25-year-old was about to break again in the seventh game but Djokovic held on with some deep hitting capped off with an intelligent dropshot. Nadal continued to serve impeccably, unfazed by the windy conditions, and pounced on the chance to break Djokovic in the ninth game.

    The Spaniard got his hands on two break points and even though Djokovic saved the first with a serve and volley, he fire another backhand long to hand over the set to Nadal, who had only dropped a mere four points on serve.

    The clay-court machine powered on in the second set as he broke twice to race to a 4-0 lead benefitting from more uncharacteristic errors from Djokovic and pummeling the ball every chance he got.

    One sloppy game from Nadal gave one of the breaks back to his opponent, but an equally dismal service game from Djokovic saw Nadal hit back for a 5-1 lead.

    And the six-time French Open champion completed his revenge plot in emphatic fashion, sealing his long-sought victory with an ace, to finish what has been one of his best serving performances since the 2010 US Open.  

    “I’m sorry for my performance today, Rafa played well and deserved to win today,” said Djokovic, whose beloved grandfather, Vladimir, passed away earlier in the week.

    “I’m still very happy to reach the finals for the second time. “This is one of my favourite events at the most beautiful centre court in the world.”

     

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