Nadal Wins 8th Consecutive Monte Carlo Title

AFP PHOTO/ SEBASTIEN NOGIER

As predicted, 10-time major champion Rafael Nadal, the King of Clay, stopped his string of consecutive losses to World #1 Novak Djokovic at seven by routing his rival 6-3 6-1 in the finals of the 2012 Monte Carlo Masters. With his convincing win Nadal became the first player to win any tournament 8 times in a row, and has now won an incredible 42 consecutive matches in Monte Carlo. He improved to 17-14 head-to-head against Djokovic and with his 20th Masters Series shield regained his place at the top of the list of all-time Masters Series shields winners, edging 16-time major champion Roger Federer who has 19. It was the 25-year-old Spaniard's 47th title, 32 of which have been on clay. His clay court final record is 32-4 and his overall tour finals record is 47-21.

Nadal's win demonstrated that he will improve on his disastrous 2011 where he lost to Djokovic six times, including twice on clay. Djokovic was still reeling from the death of his grandfather 3 days ago and clearly did not play his best tennis. Regardless, Nadal can use this win to give him confidence in what will surely be tight moments against the World #1 as they battle for dominance of the tour for the rest of the year.