The Serbian second seed ground down the home favourite during many ferocious rallies to record his 32nd consecutive win of 2011, the second-best season start since John McEnroe went on a 42-game winning streak at the start of 1984.

The defeat marked Nadal’s first reverse on his beloved clay since he fell to Robin Soderling in the fourth round of the 2009 French Open and denied him a third title on the red dirt in under a month after he won back-to-back at the Monte Carlo Masters and Barcelona Open in April. 

Kvitova grabs crown

Petra Kvitova claimed her third title of the year when she upset fourth seed Victoria Azarenka 7-6, 6-4 in the final of the women’s event on Sunday.

The left-handed Czech 16th seed, who will break into the top 10 for the first time on Monday, overpowered Belarussian Azarenka with some booming groundstrokes to add to her successes in Brisbane and Paris.

The 21-year-old squandered a match point on the Azarenka serve at 5-3 in the second set but made no mistake a game later before raising both arms aloft in triumph.  Azarenka, who won the doubles title with Maria Kirilenko on Saturday, will rise one place to number four in the world when the rankings are updated on Monday.

Kvitova, the only left-hander in the top 30 and a semifinalist at Wimbledon last year, will rise to 10th from her current ranking of 18th.