Rafael Nadal has won his 30th Masters 1000 crown in Madrid, beating Dominic Thiem 7-6 6-4 after 2 hours and 15 minutes of extraordinary battle. In what has been one of the best matches of the season on clay so far, players pushed each other to the limits in the opening set, that lasted an hour and 18 minutes! Nadal saved 2 set points to take in the tie break by 10-8, and he broke Dominic at the start of the second set and kept that lead until the very end to improve his score on clay to 15-0 in 2017, winning his 3rd title in a row and 72nd in a career.

Thiem fought like a lion, proving that he is the second best player in the world on this surface at the moment behind Rafa, but it simply wasn't enough to at least take a set out from mighty Spaniard. Austrian saved 2 match points on serve in the 9th game of the second set but Rafa stayed focused and he brought the match home on own serve a few minutes later, but only after saving 4 break points.

Thus, he is now tied with Novak Djokovic on 30 Masters 1000 crowns, with a nice chance to pass the Serb in Rome next week if he manages to recover in time. Dominic Thiem played in his first Masters 1000 final, looking to become the first player born after 1988 with a big title, and he showed to everybody his class on this surface and the abilities to win big trophies in the future.

In Barcelona final a few weeks ago, he couldn't keep the pace with Nadal after the closing stages of the opening set but he was unbelievable today, chasing Nadal in literally every point and staying in contention for almost 2 hours and 20 minutes before he finally had to lay his weapons.

Rafa was defending like in his prime chasing every ball and forcing his rival to always play one extra shot, and he took charge in the most important points, playing brave and aggressive tennis to earn a straight sets win.

Of course, they couldn't keep the great level for the entire match but overall it was a high-quality contest and certainly one of the best matches of the season so far. Nadal played a little bit better on both the first and the second serve, and he saved 5 out of 6 break points to avoid bigger turmoils in his games.

Thiem was also there, fending off 6 out of 8 break chances to stay close to his rival all the time, and it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if he managed to take the opening set. Rafa finished the match with 27 winners and 18 unforced errors, hitting equally good from both wings, and he had a clear edge in the longest rallies, which gave him the win after all as they stayed neck and neck in the points up to 4 strokes.

Thiem had the early lead, he broke Rafa in game 3 to open up a 3-1 gap, but Spaniard got it back in game 6, recovering his shots and starting to hit with more pace. In game 10 Dominic did a great job to fend off 3 set points, and he came back from 5-3 down in the tie break to earn two set points.

Nadal stayed composed, converting his 5th set point to grab the opener after 78 minutes, winning this amazing tie break by 10-8. Carried by this momentum, Rafa broke at the start of the second set, and that will prove to be the critical point of the match.

He saved a break point in game 2 to materialize his break and after that, we saw 6 solid holds on both sides. Thiem served to stay in the match in game 9, saving 2 match points as he simply refused to surrender, and the whole drama moved to the final game of the encounter, the longest of the entire match! Thiem had 4 break points but Nadal repelled them all with brave tennis, and he closed the match on his 4th match point, saving a nice volley for his final stroke in this year's Madrid campaign. Full story coming shortly.. Final result:

↓ SHOW RESULTS ↓

[4]Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs [8]Dominic Thiem (AUT) 7-6(8) 6-4

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