(REUTERS)-Rafael Nadal made history as he claimed his seventh successive Monte Carlo Masters title with a 6-4 7-5 victory over compatriot David Ferrer.
Nadal was always going to be the overwhelming favourite in the showpiece match of a tournament in which he has a win-loss record of 36-0, and such collective confidence was vindicated by a typically efficient and destructive victory.
“It’s perhaps the best tournament in the world,” Nadal beamed after picking up a trophy he virtually owns.
“I congratulate David on his good start to the year and wish him well.
“For me today is very special, to win here seven times is much more than a dream. I could never have imagined it.”
Ferrer provided a stout, combative resistance throughout, but his opponent simply had too greater intensity at key points in the match to take his career win percentage on clay to 93. Second in the all-time list is Bjorn Borg, who possessed an 86 per cent success rate on the surface.
“Generally I’m happy, I’m happy with my game,” Ferrer said. “I was a bit sad about certain moments.”
Nadal twice broke his Spanish compatriot Ferrer to take a fiercely-contested opening set and seize the ascendancy.
Both players traded breaks in the third and fourth games of the match, and the crowd were delighted to see the stubborn and determined Ferrer compete very fiercely with the world number one.
But Nadal’s second break in the fifth game gave him the crucial advantage as he went on to consolidate breaching Ferrer’s delivery and closed out the opening set 6-4.
Ferrer again held serve in the opening game of the second set, but he was swiftly broken once more as Nadal seized the initiative at the second time of asking.
He battled in typically stubborn and gutsy fashion to ensure that the world number one did not cruise through the second set, but the early break saw Nadal take control once more.
But having stamped his authority on the set, Nadal was pegged back to 4-4 by Ferrer, who refused to surrender in a competitive, enthralling passage of play.
Nadal was not to be denied, however, and a further break of the Ferrer serve enabled the world number one to clinch his first title of the year and the 44th of his career.
Ferrer defeated an injured Nadal in the last eight of January’s Australian Open but this time the world number one, who beat Fernando Verdasco in the principality last year in another all-Spanish final, was too strong on his forehand.
The 24-year-old has arguably not been at his very best this week at the beachside event, and was pushed hard by Andy Murray in Saturday’s semi-final, but even the odd problem with his serve or failure to kill off a point have not cost him.
Novak Djokovic beat Nadal in his previous two finals on hardcourts this year but he pulled out of this tournament with a knee injury, robbing fans of the chance to see whether the Serb could threaten the Spaniard on his favoured clay surface.
Roger Federer lost in the quarter-finals when the Swiss had seemed on a collision course towards the final with his great rival Nadal, but fourth seed Ferrer put up a decent fight instead with his family watching from the sun-kissed galleries.
The feat achieved by the Mallorca star has only further cemented his status as the undoubted king of the clay.
Nadal won every clay court event he entered last year and few would bet against him repeating the feat this season with the defence of his French Open title due next month after trips to Barcelona and the Masters events in Madrid and Rome.