French Open 2018: Rafael Nadal breezes past Dominic Thiem to win his 11th Roland Garros title

Unstoppable, unequalled, unforgettable. Rafael Nadal wrote another chapter in his extraordinary story here on Sunday by winning his 11thFrench Open title, crushing Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 with as emphatic a victory as almost any of his 86 other victories at Roland Garros.

Nadal, who has lost only two matches in his 13 visits to this tournament, had looked below par on occasions over the last fortnight, but the 32-year-old Spaniard saved his best for last. The win, which he needed to stop Roger Federer replacing him at the top of the world rankings, gave him his 17th Grand Slam title, which leaves him just three short of his Swiss rival’s record all-time total.

The victory also saw Nadal equal Margaret Court’s record for the most singles titles won at one Grand Slam tournament, the Australian having won her home event 11 times between 1960 and 1973. Federer is the only other man in the open era to have reached 11 finals at the same Grand Slam event, though the Swiss has lost in three of his Wimbledon finals.

This was the sixth successive Grand Slam title won by either Nadal or Federer since the two men returned to competition in 2017 after finishing the previous season early because of injury. It was also the seventh men’s Grand Slam singles title in a row won by a player aged 30 or older.

“I can’t describe my feelings,” Nadal said in an on-court interview at the end of the match. “It’s not even a dream to win here for the 11th time because it’s impossible to think something like that.”

Thiem, by common consensus, has been the world’s second best clay-court player in each of the last two years and has been the only player to beat the world No 1 on his favourite surface in that time, having done so in Rome last year and in Madrid last month. Although he did not have the best serving day, it was hard to find too many other faults with the Austrian’s efforts in his first Grand Slam final.

In Thiem’s 13 service games there were only four in which he did not defend break points. Nadal’s ferocious returns kept the Austrian under constant pressure and the Spaniard forced 17 break points, five of which he converted. Nadal, in contrast, had only three break points against him, only one of which Thiem won.

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Just as he has done so many times against Federer, Nadal kept drilling huge forehands, heavy with top spin, into Thiem’s single-handed backhand, forcing the Austrian to hit many of them at shoulder height as the ball exploded off the clay. Thiem’s backhand, which he often struck in mid-air as he attempted to get on top of the ball, is a stroke of beauty, but it was tested to the limit here.

Nadal, meanwhile, ran round his backhand with all the energy of a teenager to hit some sensational forehands. There were times when the Spaniard was hitting them from the tramlines on his backhand side, yet he was almost never caught out of position as a result.

The only threat to Nadal’s latest triumph came midway through the third set, when he suddenly stopped playing and sent for the trainer. On another hot and humid day on Court Philippe Chatrier the world No 1 was suffering from cramp in his left hand, but it did not stop him closing out his victory.

Nadal has made slow starts in a number of his matches here this year, but on this occasion the Spaniard was flying from the outset. As early as the third point he was celebrating with a cry of “Vamos!” after outrallying Thiem with some typically aggressive shot-making, and he took the opening game with a crisp volley.

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After six minutes and six points Thiem finally got on the scoreboard when Nadal mishit a backhand, but the Spaniard still broke him to 15, greeting his opponent’s netted forehand with another “Vamos!”

Thiem responded in admirable fashion by saving two break points in the third game and breaking back in the fourth, but it was only a momentary blip for Nadal. For the rest of the set the Spaniard made repeated inroads into Thiem’s service games while holding his own serve with something to spare.

When Thiem served at 4-5 the pressure finally told as the world No 8 was broken to love after making four successive unforced errors. The writing was on the wall when he missed a routine backhand volley on the first point and three forehand errors followed, the last of them a horribly mistimed drive that flew way beyond the baseline.

Thiem saved four break points in the second game of the second set, but on the fifth he missed a backhand as Nadal kept forcing the pace. With Nadal leading 4-2, Thiem had his first break point for more than an hour, only for the Spaniard to save it with a backhand winner. With Nadal 30-15 up in the following game, Thiem missed two backhands in a row to give the Spaniard the second set.

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Despite holding serve after saving four break points in the opening game of the third set, Thiem was immediately under pressure again two games later. This time he cracked and for good measure Nadal broke once more in the seventh game of the set.

The only hiccup for Nadal came in the middle of the fourth game of the third set, when he suddenly stopped playing after missing a first serve. The problem was cramp in his left hand, but after the trainer came on to massage his left forearm and the doctor gave him a salt tablet Nadal continued his inexorable progress. Thiem saved four match points as Nadal faltered just before the finish line, but on the fifth Thiem’s return landed beyond the baseline.

“I had a tough moment in the third set when I had a bit of cramp in the hand and I was very scared,” Nadal said afterwards. “It was very humid today and I was playing someone who pushed me to the limit.”

Thiem, meanwhile, expressed the thoughts of many. “What you did and what you are doing is one of the most outstanding things that anyone has achieved in sport,” he said at the presentation ceremony. “It’s amazing.”