Sports Digest/ TENNIS: Rafael Nadal's third successive Rome Masters title yesterday has left him in a class apart from his claycourt rivals as he prepares to defend his French Open title at the end of this month.
This year, more than ever, it is hard to see who will threaten Nadal's supremacy at Roland Garros when the 20-year-old Spaniard arrives in Paris. Nadal has used his win in Rome as a springboard to French Open success for the past two years.
In 2005, Nadal - then an 18-year-old racing up the rankings - followed up his five-set victory over Guillermo Coria in the Italian capital with victory at Roland Garros to become the first teenager to claim a grand slam title since Pete Sampras won the US Open in 1990.
Last year he saved two match points in another five-hour Roman epic against world number one Roger Federer before beating the Swiss again in four sets in the final in Paris.
His 6-2 6-2 win over Fernando Gonzalez in the Rome final yesterday was a stroll in comparison with those previous matches. "I think I am in the best moment of my career. I have worked very hard the last year and now I see the result," said Nadal.
Gonzalez was unrecognisable from the player who swept aside Filippo Volandri in the semi-finals, but admitted afterwards that Nadal had made it impossible for him to play.
"It's easy to say my serve didn't work, or I had a bad day, but I think the reason (I didn't play well) was him," he said. "He tries to play very high and deep. He's very fit - he can play for hours out there."
Nadal's last defeat on clay dates back to April 2005 when he lost to Igor Andreev in the quarter-finals of the ATP tournament in Valencia. Since then, he has won 13 tournaments on the surface, putting together a run of 77 successive match wins.
Federer has lost seven of his 10 matches against Nadal, including all five meetings on clay. His decision on Saturday to ditch his coach, Tony Roche, puts a big question mark over his ability to win the last grand slam to elude him.
Irish eights make mark
ROWING: Three Irish club eights made their mark at the huge KRSG regatta in Ghent in Belgium at the weekend, with UCD's women's senior eight winning by big margins on both days, writes Liam Gorman.
Trinity's men's senior eight put Leander behind them in their third-place finish on Saturday, and finished second to the elite British club yesterday, relegating London and Agecroft to fourth and fifth.
Commercial's junior women's eight were the fastest crew on Saturday, and finished a creditable third yesterday. Among notable wins for Ireland was Laura D'Urso of City of Derry being the fastest under-16 single sculler yesterday.
Taylor takes home silver despite dominating
BOXING: Irish boxer Katie Taylor had to be content with a silver medal from the Ahmet Comet Cup in Turkey yesterday after she was controversially adjudged to have lost her 60Kg final to Tatar Gulson.
Eyebrows were raised when Taylor, the reigning World and European champion, was handed a 16-13 reversal against the Turk despite dominating the decider.
Amazingly, in the context of the result, Taylor was presented with the boxer of the tournament award. Her coach and father, Peter Taylor, said Gulson was on the canvas six times in the three rounder. "Katie dominated the fight and I would be reluctant to say anything further than that except Gulson was on the floor six times. The fact Katie was presented with the boxer of the tournament award speaks for itself."
Featherweight Raymond Moylett won on the double at the National Under-19 finals at the National Stadium after he landed an Irish title and was presented with the boxer of the tournament award. The 16-year-old from the St Anne's club in Westport claimed the 57Kg title against Eamon Finnegan.
In the President Cup in Azerbaijani, which concluded on Saturday, Oliver Plunket's middleweight Tommy McCarthy won silver and Saints light heavyweight Dominic Gallagher took bronze. St Saviour's OBA middleweight Darren Sutherland won a bronze medal at the Chemistry Cup in Germany.
