Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal has won his record extending 11th French Open title, defeating Dominic Thiem of Austria in straight sets Sunday 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.
“It’s not even a dream to win here 11 times, because its impossible to think of something like this,” Nadal said after the match.
After a hard-fought first set, the number-one seeded Nadal dominated the rest of the match to capture his 17th grand slam title, just three behind his rival Roger Federer.
The 32-year-old Nadal now has 86 wins and only two losses on the clay courts at Roland Garros.
Nadal had a bit of a scare on the third set when his left hand started cramping up. He was attended to twice by a trainer but came back to finish the match.
“I had tough moment in the third set with cramps in my hand. I was very scared but that’s sport, it was very humid,” he said
Nadal joins Australia’s Margaret Court as the only player to win 11 titles at the same major tournament. The win also allows him to maintain his ranking as the number one men’s tennis player in the world, ahead of Federer.
In the women’s final Saturday, Romania’s Simona Halep defeated American Sloan Stevens in three sets, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. It was Halep’s first grand slam title.
