Rafael Nadal had to dig deep to beat Novak Djokovic in the final of the Rome Masters and claim his first title of the season, winning 6-0 4-6 6-1 after more than two hours of intense battle.
It was a thrilling precursor to what could well be the same lineup in the French Open final at Roland Garros next month.After a patchy start to the clay court season, Nadal looked near his unstoppable best at times against Djokovic who had no answer to his opponent's thundering ground strokes in the opening set, as Nadal secured the first ever bagel in the pair's rivalry -- 54 matches and 142 sets.
Novak Djokovic smashes his racquet after being broken.From there it was a relatively one-sided affair as Nadal lost just one more game to secure his 81st tournament win."For me, as I said every day, winning titles is important but the most important thing is feeling competitive and feeling healthy," Nadal told ATP."I'm very happy for the victory, I played well.
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