The present King of Clay, Rafael Nadal took the final step towards making that particular crown all his own as he equalled the past King of Clay, Bjorn Borg record of French Opens by winning his sixth title on the clay at Roland Garros today. The Spaniard defeated long time foe Roger Federer 7-5, 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-1 in an intense clash worthy of a final. In a magnificent display of adversity driven will married to clay court skill, the World no.1 turned around a difficult start, took control of the match with a consummate display, repelled the many advances that Federer made before keeping the pedal firmly depressed in a clinical run to the finish line. In a photo finish, Rafael Nadal sank to his knees in triumph, as the final Federer forehand sailed long, as he completed a special victory.

The Swiss maestro embraced an attacking philosophy that he hasn’t shown in the past when combating Nadal on clay, and hit some hit some real high notes doing so, but the 16 time slam champion just failed to keep it at that level on the big points and could not upend the Spaniard on his favourite surface. The scoreboard could well have read differently had a few points gone the other way. However it is on these margins that champions are defined and Federer who’s had many moments on the right side of these margins, came up a touch short on a day when Nadal touched the pinnacle of clay court prowess.

Striding to the middle on Court Philippe Chatrier, the significance of the moment was writ clearly on the faces of the defending champion Francesca Schiavone and Na Li – the weight of history evident on the furrowed brows of the two purposeful women. An hour and forty eight minutes later it was Li who became the first Chinese player to ever win a Grand Slam title when she outplayed the world no.5 and defending champion 6-4, 7-6(0) to etch her name in the indelible chapters of tennis history.

The Chinese made the first move attacking Schiavone in the very first game of the match. Li moved the fifth seed side to side before striking a powerful forehand cross court winner to earn the first break point of the afternoon. The Italian saved the moment with some big serves, but the there was no denying the imminent threat from her determined Chinese opponent.

The more things change, the more they remain the same. Federer after bowing out in the semifinal of the Australian Open earlier this year was asked whether the guard had finally changed. He replied quite matter of factly – lets wait 6 months. These past 4 months, those words looked as un’prophetic’ as could be until yesterday in the twilight in Paris, Roger Federer brilliantly self-fulfilled that prophecy to set up yet another French Open final against arch nemesis Rafael Nadal. It’s not quite the final that was expected at the start of the tournament, but it does turn back the clock perhaps one final time to the second half of the last decade when the pair contested 3 consecutive finals here. Lets then delve right in to glean what we can on what could happen on Sunday when champion Rafael Nadal in the blue corner takes on challenger Roger Federer in red in what is a real battle of the heavyweights.

(Click here for the Match Report)

Tennis was the ultimate winner on Friday at Roland Garros as the match between the greatest player of all time and the best player at the moment lived up to the expectations of the pundits and tennis fanatics all around. World no.2 Novak Djokovic and 16-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer took the sport of tennis to a different planet as both players showcased unimaginable play out on the court. There was all to see from both sides of the clay with top-spin lobs, Federer’s much revered single handed backhands down the line, Djokovic’s deceptive drop shots, whipped forehands and much more. However, the Swiss Genius’ magical touch came to his rescue as he finally prevailed over the undefeated Serb in four exceptional sets 7-6 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5).

World no.3 Roger Federer made a razor sharp start to the match as he broke the Serb in the opening game, the Australian Open Champion though replied immediately as he creamed a down the line backhand winner to break right back. In the following game, Djokovic refused to wilt under the barrage of some fiery hitting from his opposite number as he saved two break points to go up 2-1. Fedex in contrast raced through his service game to make it 2 all real quick.

Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina's dream of winning the French Open will have to wait for a year as the much fancied no.7 seeds were soundly beaten in the women's doubles final on Friday afternoon by the unseeded Czech pairing of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 6-4, 6-3. The Indo-Russian pair failed to recreate the magic from their early round triumphs and having beaten the top seeds and the no.4 seeds enroute to the final will be exceptionally disappointed with their performance on the day. The match took just 81 minutes as the Czech girls earned a very much deserved victory.

The Indo-Russian duo got off to a shaky start as they were made to work in Vesnina's opening service game, finally holding on after a bit of a struggle. The unseeded pair in contrast looked much more comfortable as Hradecka held with relative ease to even out the set at 1-1. Sania Mirza's serve has traditionally been the one under pressure over the fortnight and she dropped her opening service game to fall behind 2-1.

The King of Clay Rafael Nadal stormed into his 6th French Open final in 7 attempts with a interesting 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 win against Britain's Andy Murray. While the scorecard looks relatively innocuous, the match was anything but with Rafa saving an incredible 15 of 18 break points against him to pull off a hard fought win. Andy Murray came into this match with a 3-2 record in Grand Slam semi-finals, however, none of those three wins had come on clay. That fact didn't change on Friday afternoon as the 5-time champion took care of business as expected. It was the perfect way for the Majorcan Marauder to celebrate his 25th birthday, and Rafael Nadal will be hoping to give himself a slightly delayed extra present this coming Sunday by joining the legendary Bjorn Borg as the only other man to have won 6 French Open titles.

The opening set was a closely fought affair with Rafa dominating the early exchanges before Murray found his feet as the set progressed. If the first point of any match is indicative of what one can expect, then we were in for a cracker of a semi-final as Murray showed how to build a point against the champion drawing him to the net before pulling out a crosscourt backhand pass, hit to perfection. Both men opened with easy holds, but it was Nadal who edged ahead by breaking serve in the third game. Murray saved a first break point with a forehand winner, but a tentative volley on Nadal's second opportunity of the game left him a sitting duck at the net and Rafa made the easy pass.