Nadal ties 53-wins record

2006-05-14 21:11

Rome - Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer in five sets on Sunday to defend his Rome Masters title and tie Guillermo Vilas' record 53-match winning streak on clay in the Open era.

"It's something I don't think I'll ever do again," Nadal said of the record. "But it was more important to win the Rome title."

The second-ranked Spaniard saved two match points at 5-6 in the fifth set when Federer missed two forehands, then closed out the 6-7 (0) 7-6 (5) 6-4 2-6 7-6 (5) win on his first match point in the tiebreaker when the top-ranked Swiss player hit another forehand long.

The match lasted 5 hours, 5 minutes, and Nadal dropped to the clay on his back in celebration after hitting the winning shot.

Nadal has now beaten Federer in four straight matches, including in the semi-finals of last year's French Open.

The Rome Masters is a clay-court warm-up for Roland Garros, which begins in two weeks.

Beginning with a win

The 19-year-old Nadal began his streak at the Monte Carlo Masters in April 2005 and has now won nine straight tournaments on clay.

His 16th title also tied him with Bjorn Borg for most titles won as a teenager.

"It's very difficult to win every tournament, 53 matches is a lot of matches," said Nadal.

Vilas set his streak in 1977, beginning with a win in May at the French Open and ending with a loss to Ilie Nastase in October in Aix en Provence, France.

Nadal can break the record with a win against Tommy Haas in the first round of the Hamburg Masters next week.

Nadal also won a fifth-set tiebreaker in last year's final, beating Guillermo Coria in 5hrs 14min - the longest final of the Open era.

Post-match plate of pasta

"I think Federer was, maybe, tougher to beat. He's more aggressive and serves very well," said Nadal, eating his traditional post-match plate of pasta at Foro Italico.

"I was lucky he missed those forehands."

This year's match had the makings of a five-setter from the start.

The first set lasted more than an hour. After trading breaks, Nadal saved two set points on his serve in the final game before the tiebreaker.

He appeared slightly below his normal energy level as Federer stormed through the tiebreaker without losing a point.

Most entertaining points of the match

In the first game of the second set, Nadal won one of the most-entertaining points of the match, chasing a lob down with a shot through his legs that Federer volleyed into the net.

Both players held serve comfortably in the second set. In the tiebreaker, Federer made two uncharacteristic errors - a forehand approach shot that sailed long and a backhand passing attempt into the net - to hand Nadal the set.

Nadal broke serve to take a 3-2 lead in the third set and maintained the advantage throughout the set to take the lead.

Federer broke twice in the fourth set to even the match.

Federer dropped to 39-3 this year, with his only losses coming to Nadal. The other two came in finals at Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in March and the Monte Carlo Masters last month.

Topspin caused problem

Federer employed more-aggressive tactics than the Monte Carlo final, when he lost serve seven times.

He only served-and-volleyed sparingly, but aimed for the corners and followed his baseline shots into the net at every opportunity. Nadal broke serve only three times.

Nadal played his usual baseline game, and his heavy topspin consistently gave Federer problems. The Swiss star shanked several shots high into the stands.

Federer was coming off two long three-set matches. Nadal hadn't dropped a set since his first-round win over Carlos Moya.

Rome remains one of only four Masters Series events that Federer has not won. Monte Carlo, Madrid and Paris are the others. He also lost the Rome final in 2003 to Felix Mantilla.

- AP