Rafael Nadal wins 2018 men’s French Open championship

Rafael Nadal has won the 2018 French Open, besting Dominic Thiem in the finals, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. Nadal now has 11 titles on the clay of Roland Garros, tying Margaret Court for the most titles at any one Grand Slam and once again solidifying his claim as the King of Clay.

Nadal, 32, has a whopping 86-2 record at the French Open after Sunday’s victory. Thiem, 24, is still searching for his first Grand Slam victory after the stinging loss, but it was the furthest he’s been in one yet, and he played a hard-fought match.

Nadal joins Simona Halep as singles champions this year. Halep, in her first Grand Slam victory, bested American Sloane Stephens in the women’s singles final on Saturday.

Nadal’s road to the final included victories over Simone Bolelli, Guido Pella, No. 27 Richard Gasquet, Maximilian Marterer, No. 11 Diego Schwartzman in the quarterfinals and No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro in the semifinal. All but Schwartzman were beaten in three sets, while Schwartzman took the first from Nadal in their quarterfinal matchup.

Thiem’s run included wins over Ilya Ivashka, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Matteo Berrettini, No. 19 Kei Nishikori, No. 2 Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals and Marco Cecchinato in the semifinals.

Going into the French Open, all the talk was about Nadal, the top seed and winner of 10 French Open titles, and whether or not a handful of players — namely Thiem and Zverev — could beat him.

Thiem is widely considered to be the second-best clay court player on the men’s single circuit, and with a win over Nadal on clay in their most recent meeting, he deserved the praise. For the second year in a row, he was the only player to have beaten Nadal on clay going into Roland Garros. He also snapped Nadal’s 50-set clay streak in Madrid when he beat Nadal prior to the French Open.

He accomplished a similar feat when he bested Nadal in Rome last year, and then lost to Nadal in the semifinals. In all, Nadal led Thiem, 6-3, in the head-to-head, all on clay, going into their finals matchup.

Thiem was broken on his very first service game, but broke Nadal right back to get things back on serve in the first. It eventually got to 5-4 Nadal with Thiem serving, and Nadal notched four straight points to suddenly have a triple set point attempt. He nailed it, and took the first set.

Thiem had two aces, three double faults and 18 unforced errors in the first set. Nadal had 12 unforced errors, and won 76 percent of his first serves that went in. He won 3 of 4 net points, while Thiem didn’t win any of his. Nadal converted on two of five break attempts, while Thiem converted on one of two.

Nadal held pretty quickly to start the second, and then needed five break attempts, but scored a break on Thiem’s first service game. Thiem had multiple backhands go into the net, and had a double fault at the worst time on top of that. Nadal then held to go up 3-0. Thiem finally held to stop the bleeding, a dominant service game he sorely needed. He then had a break attempt on Nadal, but couldn’t convert it. Eventually, Nadal was serving for the set at 5-3, and he got through that game without issue to take the two-set lead.

In the second set, Thiem had three aces and a double fault, while getting 78 percent of his first serves in. He only won 68 percent of his first serves that went in, however. Nadal won 84 percent of his first serves that went in, and he won 8 of 9 net points, with Thiem taking just 2 of 4. Thiem had 12 unforced errors and 14 winners, and could not convert on his only break attempt.

Nadal had four break point attempts on Thiem’s opening service game of the third set, but unlike the first two, he didn’t get the break. Thiem held, which itself was a huge win for him. After Nadal held, he then took three break attempts, but eventually got it and went up, 2-1 in the third set and serving for a bigger lead.

Nadal spent some time with a trainer over what appeared to be hand cramps, but he won his next service game handily. He started playing more aggressively, perhaps worried that the cramps would become a larger concern if he dropped a set. He broke Thiem and was serving for the set, which was successful after multiple championship point attempts.