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After a slow start in which he twice dropped serve, Djokovic took control of the baseline rallies and finished the match with a flurry of precision groundstrokes that had Nadal reeling.
“Beating Rafa on clay is definitely a confidence booster,” Djokovic, who claimed his third Rome title and the 44th of his career, told reporters. “Let’s hope it’s something I can take into Roland Garros.” Beating Nadal in the French capital is a different proposition altogether but the way Djokovic managed to dominate the Spanish world No. 1 augurs well for his chances of completing his career grand slam next month.
He has won eight of the last nine sets they have contested.
“It’s been a great week considering where I was a few weeks ago with the wrist injury,” said an emotional Djokovic, who was making his comeback in Rome after injuring himself in the Monte Carlo Masters last month and missing the Madrid Masters.
“I tried to be aggressive from the beginning to the end. It didn’t work at the start but I didn’t change the game plan and I found the right rhythm and everything started going in.”
Seven-times Rome champion Nadal had spent 10 hours on court reaching the final, including gruelling late-night wins over Gilles Simon and Andy Murray, and he looked powerless to stop Djokovic’s charge, although he did threaten a comeback in the decider when he broke back to 3-3.
Defeat for Nadal was his third on clay in a season for the first time in a decade and raised further questions about his form ahead of the French Open which starts next Sunday.
Nadal hinted that his heavy schedule in Rome had been a factor in his defeat.
“Rome now is the past for me,” said Nadal.
“I have to start thinking about Roland Garros next week, and if my chance of playing well in Paris wasn’t very high a few weeks ago, now I think that I have a better chance.”
“When you play night matches you go to bed at three in the morning, which isn’t ideal. It wasn’t the perfect schedule for me or for my tennis.
“I played three very tough matches and 10 matches in 12 days, so yeah I was a little bit tired.”
Nadal has dominated in Rome over the last decade and looked in no mood to surrender his title, breaking twice to lead the first set 4-1, showing no sign of fatigue.
Djokovic instantly broke back and then had a chance to level the set in game eight when he moved 0-40 ahead on Nadal’s serve only for the Mallorcan to fend off the attack and clinch the opener.
Djokovic raced out of the blocks in the second set, breaking for a 2-0 lead with a rifled forehand winner and held for 3-0.
Some forehand errors from the Djokovic racket allowed Nadal to battle back to 2-3 but a double fault gifted the world No. 2 another break and this time there was no way back as the 41st meeting between the players went to a decider.
Dominating the baseline exchanges with power and accuracy Djokovic grabbed the initiative early in the third set and could have moved a double break ahead but for some typically gutsy defiance by the Spaniard.
Nadal then clawed his way back to 3-3 courtesy of a poor Djokovic drop shot but just when it looked as though he was winding up for a grandstand finish the match was snatched from his grasp with a burst of scintillating play by Djokovic.
After breaking for 4-3, Djokovic rattled through his own service game in little more than a minute and then moved 15-40 ahead as Nadal served to stay alive.
One match point went begging but Nadal wafted a groundstroke long on the next point to surrender his title.
Serena beats injured Errani to win Italian OpenREUTERS: Serena Williams won her third Italian Open title, crushing local favourite Sara Errani 6-3 6-0 in Rome on Sunday. The world number one looked on top form against the 10th- seeded Errani, who was cheered on by a passionate home crowd but suffered a thigh injury towards the end of the first set and never recovered.
All the action was in the first set, which lasted longer than the 46-minute hammering Williams dished out to the Italian in the semi-finals of the French Open last year, when Errani won only one game. The 27-year-old Errani, who has lost to Serena Williams, in all seven of their meetings, had to leave the court after losing her serve in the eighth game of the first set to get attention for her injury.
She was clearly less mobile after that, and the American rattled off seven easy games in a row to finish the match in one hour and 11 minutes, leaving Errani tearful in defeat.
“I’m sorry for Sara because she didn’t deserve it to end like this, but I’m very happy for the win,” said Williams in Italian on court. Sunday’s triumph was William’s 60th WTA title and she dropped only one set on her way to victory, in Saturday’s powerful semi-final display against Ana Ivanovic.
“She’s obviously improved since Paris last year, and I think I could have played a lot better as well,” Williams added later. “I was a little nervous out there in the beginning, wasn’t quite hitting my shots the way I should have been. That’s exciting for me to know that I have room to grow as well.”
Of Williams’s victories, 23 have come since since she returned from a life-threatening pulmonary embolism in 2011. “I’m like a fine wine I guess, or at least my tennis game is. It gets better with age. Hopefully that’s how it goes,” she said.
The 32-year-old had doubted she would start the tournament after pulling out of the Madrid Masters with a left thigh injury.
“I came to Rome eating pasta every day and hanging out with my friends, and then I thought OK, I’ll practise on Tuesday and here I am. It was unexpected.
“But I had fun, and I think when I’m having fun is when I’m at my most dangerous.”
Errani, who had been bidding to become the first Italian woman since Raffaella Reggi in 1985 to win the title, told the crowd: “I’m sorry, you’ve been brilliant all week.”
“It was amazing for me to get to the final and play my best tennis thanks to you and my team, who have always been by my side,” she added. “Hopefully I’ll be back next year and go one better.”
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