The Sky is blue , water is wet and Nadal triumphs at Roland Garros.
Dominic Thiem’s hopes of doing what only Robin Soderling & Novak Djokovic have achieved (beat the King of clay in Paris) was seemingly dashed when he made 3 consecutive unforced error in the final game of the first set and handed the opener to the defending champion.
From then on, Nadal stepped up his game and brushed aside his Austrian opponent to win the match 6-4 6-3 6-2.
Dominic Thiem is the only man who has gotten the better of him on clay in the last two years but he soon found out that beating Rafa at the Court Philippe Chatrier was a whole different proposition. As John McEnroe said, beating the Spaniard in Paris is the toughest task in sport.
Like Nadal’s semi-final opponent (Juan Martin Del Potro), Thiem too started the game strongly. He was finding the corners and matching Rafa shot for shot.
However, once he slipped in the 10th game of the set, he was unable to keep up the intensity. The relentless Nadal grew from strength to strength and overpowered his opponent.
He broke Thiem’s serve early in both the 2nd and 3rd set and was clinical with his service games. In the final set, the Spaniard suffered cramps on his left arm and took a medical break to recover.
That didn’t loosen his grip on the match as he decisively broke Thiem’s serve for the 2nd time in the set and served out the match.
