Rafael Nadal wins French Open to seal 'La Decima' as Stan Wawrinka wilts in Paris
NOT SO much “La Decima” as an utter decimation: Rafa Nadal was at his destructive best to secure his 10th Roland Garros title.
Rafael Nadal claimed his 10th French Open crown at the expense of Stan Wawrinka
The manner in which Stan Wawrinka bullied Andy Murray off court in the semi-final suggested this could be a close match. Nadal, however, was simply another level beyond.
In the end, his 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 victory took just 2hr 5m – a whole grand slam won in barely 12 hours and at a cost of just 35 games. Only Bjorn Borg has won a grand slam having conceded fewer games than that – 1978 French Open.
And yet when the first five games took more than half an hour, it seemed we were in for an epic.
Stan Wawrinka was no match for Rafael Nadal
Nadal takes the first set of the French Open final
Wawrinka, the 2014 French Open champion is a strong player on clay. But when he tried to run Nadal from side to side, the Spaniard duly obliged, inevitably signalling the end of his willingness to play this game with a thumping, unreturnable forehand of own.
By the end of the second set, Wawrinka was already in dire straits. Breaking his old racket on the unforgiving clay, he took a new one out of his bag and smashed himself over the head with the new one.
There was a helpless grin when, already a break down in the third set, he retrieved a Nadal drop shot and engineered a winner of his own.
Rafael Nadal didn't drop one set throughout the entire French Open
The crowd roared as he whipped them up with his arms but it was all in vein – he was broken once again a few moments later.
It was awesome. Court Philippe Chatrier rose to its feet as one as Nadal fell to the dirt when Wawrinka fluffed a final attempt at a drop volley.