World number two Rafael Nadal staged a heroic fightback from two sets down to clinch his fourth Masters title of the year with a thrilling 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 victory over Ivan Ljubicic in Madrid on Sunday.
The 19-year-old Spaniard, who won his other Masters titles in Monte Carlo, Rome and Montreal, appeared to be on the brink of defeat when he trailed the in-form Croatian and struggled to hold his own serve.
But the top seed, roared on by a capacity 10,000 crowd, turned the tide with his characteristic blend of aggression and steely determination to claim a famous victory.
"It was an incredibly difficult victory," an ecstatic Nadal told reporters.
"The only reason why I can explain that I managed to turn the game around was the support of the fans here in Madrid. They have 80 percent of the responsibility for the victory.
"I'd rank this as my most important victory of the year after Roland Garros," said the French Open champion.
Nadal's victory meant he equalled world number one Roger Federer's feat of winning 11 ATP titles this season. The pair have also mopped up all eight of this year's Masters Series crowns.
For Ljubicic the defeat ended a magnificent 16-match winning run, but the 26-year-old was typically gracious in defeat.
"It was a beautiful feeling to play here and I'm really happy for Rafa because he's young and will have a lot of victories ahead of him still to come," he said.
Nadal got off to an encouraging start in the Madrid Arena when he broke serve in the opening game with a fine forehand pass after he had worked his opponent around the baseline.
LOOSE SHOTS
But Ljubicic remained unflustered and took advantage of a succession of loose shots from the young Spaniard to break back in the fourth game.
The Croatian number one, who came into the tournament after back-to-back wins in Metz and Vienna as well as leading his country to the final of the Davis Cup, soon found the range on his serve, unleashing a barrage of aces to move 4-3 up and broke once again before closing the set 6-3.
Ljubicic kept the pressure on Nadal at the start of the second set, earning himself another break in the third after he had pinned the Mallorcan to the baseline with a series of faultless forehand drives and then leaving him stranded with a delicate drop shot.
The Croatian, ranked 12 in the world, continued to forge ahead, breaking again in the seventh and firing off yet another ace to take the set 6-2 and leave a bemused Nadal shaking his head at his inability to find a way into the match.
The Mallorcan refused to surrender, however, and pumped up by the partisan crowd he finally broke the Ljubicic serve again and weathered some intense pressure from his opponent to take the third set 6-3.
Nadal came out firing on all cylinders in the fourth, broke to go 2-1 up after two unbelievable full-stretch winners and kept his focus to serve out 6-4 and level the match.
The two players exchanged breaks at the start of a nerve racking fifth set and there was nothing to separate them as they matched each other blow for blow to take it through to a tiebreak.
It was the 19-year-old, though, who found something extra, taking it 7-3 to claim victory in three hours 51 minutes.
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