Nadal looked likely to win in three straight sets but Federer played some amazing tennis to winning the third set 7-5 from being 4-2 down at one point.  But the comeback was not to be completed and Nadal went on to win the match 7-5 7-6 (7-3) 5-7 6-1.

In the semi-finals Nadal beat Andy Murray, while Federer became the first person to beat Novak Djokovic in 2011.  Rafa Nadal remains number one in the men’s tennis world rankings.

On Saturday 29-year-old Li Na became the first Chinese tennis player to win a Grand Slam singles tournament when she beat the fifth seed Italian Francesca Schiavone 6-4 7-6 (7-0).  This follows her Australian Open final defeat in January.

After winning the French Open told reporters:

“It’s a dream come true because China never had a Grand Slam champion, so that’s why so many players in China are working so hard. The dream is you can be the top player or win the Grand Slam.”

Nadal back to his best

Rafael Nadal’s comeback from the tendinitis problem that forced him to withdraw from Wimbledon last year, now looks complete, the Spaniard showed exemplary form while disposing of Robin Soderling in the final of the French Open on Sunday.

Nadal brushed the Swede aside taking the match 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 to win his fifth title at Roland Garros, and the Spaniard looked to be back to his exceptional best.

While Nadal does not consider himself to be the best clay court player of all time, but he has now one all of his 22 matches on that surface this season, dropping a meagre two sets on the way and taking his own win tally on clay to 203.

Nadal is now back at number one in the world  and on this form looks unbeatable and with the grass courts of Wimbledon looming we should be seeing the Spanish player at the peak of his game.

Sadly the same cannot be said of Andy Murray who is all over the place with his game. Appearing at times to lack the focus he showed last season, Murray has been unconvincing too many times this year and will have to pull out something spectacular at Queens, where he defends his title this week, to be considered a serious contender for Wimbledon.

The same could be said of Roger Federer of course, he too has not shown the consistency that took him to the top of world tennis, but then again we all know better than to write off a player who has won more Grand Slams than any other player in the game.

Andy Murray

Murray had no response to the Chileans massive forehand in the first set, losing 6-3 before recovering to take the second set with the score reversed at 3-6.

Gonzalez is an expert on the clay surface and as determined as Murray has been on this surface, he was never ready for the onslaught that he faced today from a player in superb form.  In the third set Murray collapsed completely, scoring just seven points in the 24 minutes it took Gonzalez to thrash the Brit 6-0.

Although Murray showed some signs of comeback in the fourth, it was not enough to stop Gonzalez taking the set 6-4 and progressing to the semi finals. He will meet Rafael Nadal’s conqueror Robin Soderling in one  semi final, while the remaining quarter finals take place on Wednesday to decide the second semi final contenders.

Murray managed a dramatic comeback to win the first set from 5-2 behind, to win the set 7-6 (7-3) in a tie break. He went on to dominate the second set after Tipsarevic picked up an injury early in the set. Despite receiving treatment the unseeded Serbian player was unable to continue at the end of the second set, won by Murray 6-3.

Murray will be pleased with his progress regardless of the circumstances and he will now face Marin Cilic for a place in the quarter finals.

Regardless of rankings Starace started the game with a slightly better record than Murray at the French Open, having reached the third round in Paris twice to Murray’s once. The Italian’s favourite surface is clay, while Murray has until this year struggled on that surface.

Murray was quick to break the Italians serve in the first set, and looked pretty much in control at that point, Starace having little say in the proceedings. However the second set saw the Starace take the advantage, upping his game particularly his service while Murray seemed to lose his own concentration to let the second set go.

The third set was heading the same way as the second as Starace built a commanding 5-1 lead, before Murray was able to get on top of his game with a fantastic fight back that seemed to take the wind out of Starace’s sails, Murray eventually taking the set 7-5.

The Scot holding out in the final set for an impressive win and will now face the winner of the game between Janko Tipsarevic and Feliciano Lopez.