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Rafael Nadal helped Spain crush Argentine hopes for a second time in four years to clinch his nation’s fifth Davis Cup title. Juan Martin Del Potro fought stoically to deny Nadal and Spain, but his determination was just no match for arguably the greatest clay court player ever. In the end it took just over four hours for Nadal to overcome Del Potro 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6(0) and re-assert Spain’s supremacy on the ITF event, which they have won three out of the last four years.

Del Potro had a nightmarish start to his must win match against Nadal. He lost the first two points of the contest dumping easy volleys into the net. After fighting his way back to deuce, he threw in a couple of double faults to gift the break to Nadal.

At least that early set back served to remind the Argentine of the relative poverty of his team’s situation. In the very next game, Nadal squandered a game point when he sent his forehand long to allow Del Potro to claw his way back to deuce. Sensing the opportunity, the giant from Tandil unleashed an inch perfect forehand winner that brought the crowd to its feet and earned him a warm round of applause from his opponent, besides the break point. Nadal helped the Argentine restore parity by landing a drop shot wide to return the favours he received in the earlier game.

That was to turn out to be just the beginning of an improbable run for Del Potro. In an incredible sequence of games, Del Potro won seven in a row against Rafael Nadal on clay in the great Spaniard’s own lair – taking him all the way to 1-0 in the second set, with yet another break in the bag.

But then Rafa hasn’t built his monstrous reputation on clay for nothing. Del Potro raced away to 40-0 in the second game with an audacious backhand drop shot. Not to be outdone, Nadal stitched together a string of five points that pinched the shocked crowd out of their shock and enabled the Spaniard to suck the wind out of the sails of Del Potro who was riding the momentum all too well at that juncture.

As the duel started to assume titanic proportions, neither man was ceding an inch and play kept with serve to the ninth game. But Del Potro tightened just a little when serving to stay in the set at 4-5 and it was all Nadal needed to seize back the initiative. Nadal pulled off a forehand cross court winner to draw even at 30-30 and pile the pressure on the Argentine. Del Potro made a mess of it on the next point when flailed a short ball long off his forehand to hand the Spaniard a set point. An easy smash at the net brought out a deafening roar that must have thundered through Seville; Spain and Nadal were back in the match.

Things started to unravel in the second game of third set for Del Potro when he lost four points in a row including two game points – a forehand down the line winner clinching an early break for Nadal. Having re-asserted the natural order on his favoured surface, the world No. 2 was back at his best as he raced away with the third set for the loss of just a solitary game.

But if the raucous Spanish crowd assumed that the 6’6” soft spoken young man was just going to roll over and lay out the carpet for the clay court maestro across the court, they were way off the mark. The fourth set turned out to be an intense back and forth battle that contained eight breaks of serve. It was when this match seized being a game of tennis and assumed the contours of a gladiatorial battle as both men laid everything on the line to put on the kind of show that makes Davis Cup the timeless classic that it is.

The narrative was best captured in the eleventh and twelfth games, when both men flung themselves into every shot as it were their last on a tennis court. Nadal had just fought back from 3-5 down in the fourth set to bring it back to even keel, before piling on the pressure to earn two break points. Del Potro pulled off a stunning forehand down the line winner that flirted with line to save the first, but found the net when he tried an encore.

The stadium erupted in anticipation of Nadal serving out for the Championship, but then Del Potro was just not ready to play by the script. His limbs were in pain, but that did not prevent the Argentine from flinging his giant frame across the dirt. Nadal found the net when he tried to go crosscourt with his forehand to offer Del Potro a couple of break points at 15-40. Nadal saved the first when he hurried his opponent at the net, who failed to control his backhand volley. But one more time, Del Potro found yet another piece of brilliance when he smacked a forehand down the line winner to force a tie-break.

Unfortunately for the Argentine, this was his second four hour match of the weekend and it was all he could do to stop the Spaniard. Nadal raced away to victory; a forehand down the line winner past a tired Del Potro earning Spain the Cup winning point. It was the first time in the illustrious career of Nadal, that he was the man on the court that helped Spain cross the line.

"Today is one of the most emotional days of my career," said Nadal, "after such a difficult year, this was a spectacular finale to the season. To win a final this way is very special.” Del Potro was left in tears for a second time in three days and Argentina ended up runners-up for a fourth time. "Both my colleagues and I must be happy that we have done a good job, not only in this tie but the whole Davis Cup," said 23-year-old Del Potro. "We could fight Spain on home turf and we could feel that we could beat them.” It wasn’t to be, not under Nadal’s hawkish watch on the red clay of Seville.

SPAIN def. ARGENTINA 3-1

Friday

Rafael Nadal (ESP) d. Juan Monaco (ARG) 61 61 62

David Ferrer (ESP) d. Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) 62 67(2) 36 64 63

Saturday

David Nalbandian / Eduardo Schwank (ARG) d. Feliciano Lopez / Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 64 62 63

Sunday

Rafael Nadal (ESP) d. Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) 16 64 61 76(0)

Fifth rubber not played

File Photograph Copyright: Madrid Masters