Rafael Nadal wins his twelfth French Open
The Spanish tennis legend beat Dominic Thiem in the final of the French Open for the second year in a row, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 and 6-1.
Rafael Nadal won his twelfth French Open this afternoon, beating Dominic Thiem for the second year in a row in the final (6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1).
Nadal powers through the last two sets
Nadal, the firm favourite, took the first set 6-3, with two breaks, before Thiem fought back to surprise Nadal in the second 7-5 to level the match. Alas for the Austrian fourth seed taking a set off Nadal only unleashed an absolute cyclone of tennis from the Spaniard. Thiem was unable to fend off Nadal as he powered through the next two sets, winning both 6-1, to take the title.
Nadal's 12th French Open take his total grand slam tally to 18, just two behind Roger Federer, who Nadal beat easily in three sets in the semi-final here, and three ahead of Djokovic, who went out to Thiem in the other semi.
Nadal: "It's a dream"
After the match Nadal was asked if he was the biggest legend in the history of Roland Garros: "I don't know", he replied. "It's truly incredible. You can't explain it. It's so emotional, a dream. In 2005 I could never have dreamt of this".
Nadal 93-2 at Roland Garros
With this win Nadal takes his overall win-loss stats at the French Open to a remarkable 93 wins and only two defeats.
Nadal's two losses at the French Open came in the fourth round in 2009 against Robin Soderling and the quarter-final in 2015 against Novak Djokovic. He also missed out on the trophy in 2016 when he retired before the third round of tournament with a wrist injury.