Nadal captured his Open-era record seventh French Open crown, defeating Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in the rain-suspended men's final at Roland Garros. Nadal breaks his tie with Bjorn Borg at the clay-court major.
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It is Nadal's 11th Grand Slam title, moving him into a tie for fourth all time with Rod Laver and Borg, trailing only Roger Federer (16), Pete Sampras (14) and Roy Emerson (12).
He also ends Djokovic's streak of three consecutive Grand Slam titles, denying the world No. 1 a chance to become the first since Rod Laver to own all four Grand Slam titles at the same time. Djokovic had defeated Nadal in the three previous Slam finals, including a nearly six-hour match at the Australian Open in January.
Nadal runs his record at Roland Garros to 52-1.
The match picked up Monday with Djokovic serving at 2-1 in the fourth set, and he was immediately broken. There were no more break points, until championship point. Djokovic double faulted to end the match.
Nadal lost only three points on his serve after the resumption of play on Monday, which once again was hampered by rain, which began falling in the middle of the set, nearly forcing another delay.
Both players thanked the crowd in French following the match.
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