Nadal wins seventh French Open title

Nadal's 6-4 6-3 2-6 7-5 victory saw him eclipse Bjorn Borg's six titles at Roland Garros and prevented Djokovic becoming the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four grand Slam titles at the same time.

A double fault from the Serb was an awful way for a classic encounter to be settled, but Nadal had been the better man since the players returned to the court on Monday following the previous day's rain delay.

Djokovic had launched an impressive fightback on Sunday to keep his 'Djoker Slam' hopes alive.

Nadal had led by two sets and a break but by the time rain stopped play, Djokovic had claimed the third set and was a break up in the fourth.

Rain was still very much around when the players resumed at 1300 local time on Monday and Nadal immediately recovered the service break to level the fourth set at 2-2.

The brutal long rallies which had been so in evidence on Sunday continued as the set progressed to 5-5.

Further rain caused a brief delay at one stage but it was not to stop Nadal.

After holding for 6-5, he struck in game 12, forcing match point at 30-40 and then seeing his opponent send two serves long.

Nadal's seventh title in Paris is his 11th at Grand Slam level and sees him draw level with Laver and Borg in the all-time list. Only Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and Roy Emerson are now above him.