Rafael Nadal came through an epic battle with Roger Federer to take the Hamburg Masters title.
It took Nadal 2 hours and 52 minutes to overcome the world number one and had to fight back from 1-5 down in the first set. The final score was 7-5, 6-7, 6-3 and it was Federer’s first defeat on German soil in 41 matches. It was in Hamburg last year that Federer, the defending champion, brought an end to Nadal’s long, unbeaten run on clay courts.
Nadal now heads to Paris as the favourite to retain his French Open title.