Nadal wins Rome Masters

Rafael Nadal extended his tournament winning streak to three titles on Sunday, defeating defending champion Novak Djokovic in the final of the 2009 Rome Masters.

Djokovic put in a strong performance in the first set, matching the world number one point for point before Nadal closed the set out in a tiebreaker. The seeming indefatigable Spaniard then crushed his Serbian opponent in the second set to win the match 7-6 (7/2), 6-2.

The result saw Novak Djokovic lose his number three ranking in the ATP Tour, with Andy Murray claiming this ranking to become the highest ranked British player in the history of the ATP World Rankings. Nadal, meanwhile, moved within two titles of Andre Agassi’s record of 17 Masters series title wins.

“I would love to have more than 17. Right now I have 15, I’m very happy for that. I’m going to try my best in the next tournaments,” Nadal said after the match. “I started well. He led 40-15 in the first game but then I won it. That was important, the first break.”

“But later it was really tough to return. The ball was bouncing really high and when he put the first serve in it was really tough.”