Nadal Claims First Australian Open Title

Raphael Nadal Is The First Spaniard To Win the Australian Open

It was Nadal's second consecutive five-set match at the Open after

beating Fernando Verdasco in five sets in Friday's semi-final. His

win on nearly four and a half hours brought his on-court time to nine

and a half hours over the past three days.

   Nadal's victory was his sixth and give the 22-year-old current

possession of the Paris, Wimbledon and now Melbourne honours.

   The pair were playing for the seventh time in a Grand Slam final

with Nadal having claimed the last three meetings dating to Roland

Garros last year.

   Nadal is the first Spaniard to ever win the trophy in Melbourne

and stands 13-6 over Federer.

   The loss dropped Federer to 13-5 in Grand Slam finals with Nadal

accounting for all of his defeats.

   Federer missed a chance to win the third set as he went wrong on

six break points over two games but made a fighting comeback in the

fourth set to tie it all up and force a deciding fifth.

   But an errant backhand into the net to hand over a break in the

fourth game for 3-1, almost broke the Federer spirit.

   The Swiss rallied to save two match points in the eight game

before an "out" call from the crowd handed over a third.  

   Nadal seized the victory as a Federer return sailed long and the

Swiss slumped in defeat.

   Federer struggled early in a first set which played like a woman's

match, complete with five breaks of serve.

   The Swiss got one back from Nadal early on, but was

disappointingly unable to hold onto his own at 4-2, losing it and

dropping the final game.

   Nadal took the opener after 58 minutes - one less than the

entirety of the women's final 24 hours earlier.

   Federer revived in the second set, taking a 3-2 lead on a break

but again losing it a game later.

   But this time, tt was the second seed who seized the momentum,

breaking Nadal for 5-3 after the fighting Spaniard saved four break

points in the game.

   Federer, his game steadying, served out to level at a set each

after almost two hours.

   In the third set, the toll of a semi-final running for more than

five hours looked to perhaps be taking a slight toll on Nadal, with

the Spaniard calling for the trainer after the fifth game for a rub

on his hamstring.

   Federer missed a golden opportunity to grab a break, missing on

three break points in the ninth game as the Spaniard held with

difficulty, 5-4.

   It was the same frustrating scenario two games later, with Nadal

again escaping three break points for 6-5.

   After failing to put it away, Federer had to salvage a set point

in the 12th game with a serve winner to forces a tiebreaker.

   Bit Nadal shook off any fatigue, firing a cross-court winner for a

break point for three more set points and taking a two-sets-to-one

lead after three hours on a costly Federer double-fault, his third of

the long evening.

   The drama stepped up in the third as Nadal got back a break in the

third game and then recovering from 0-30 to earn 2-2. 

   Federer came under continual pressure in an epic game, saving

three more break chances a game later, a fourth with ace number 11

and fifth to the corner before finally making it 3-2 after seven

deuces.

   It went into a fifth thanks to a Federer break for 4-2 and a

service winner three games later. DPA