PARIS - His clay-court prowess as unassailable as ever, Rafael Nadal won his record 10th French Open title by dominating 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 in the final Sunday.
No other man or woman has won 10 championships at the same major in the Open era, which began in 1968.
The 31-year-old Nadal was overwhelmingly good from start to finish against Wawrinka _ and over the past two weeks en route to La Decima, Spanish for "10th.'' Not only did Nadal win every set he played in the tournament, he dropped a total of only 35 games, the second fewest by any man on the way to any title at a Grand Slam tournament in the Open era with all matches being best-of-five-sets.
Along with improving to 10-0 in finals at Roland Garros, Nadal increased his career haul to 15 Grand Slam trophies, breaking a tie with Pete Sampras for second place in the history of men's tennis, behind only rival Roger Federer's 18.
It marked a stirring return to the top for Nadal in his favourite event and on his favourite surface: Over his career, he is now 79-2 at the French Open and 102-2 in all best-of-five-set matches on clay.
A year ago in Paris, Nadal surprisingly withdrew before the third round because of a wrist injury, making the announcement at a news conference while wearing a blue brace on his left arm and a look of resignation of his face. He couldn't bring himself to watch much of the rest of the 2016 French Open, he said, other than some doubles matches involving a good pal, and the singles final.