Rafael Nadal makes it six in a row at Monte Carlo Masters

"I'm so sorry, Fernando," Nadal said in his champion's speech during the post-match ceremonies, having just demolished his countryman 6-0, 6-1, coming close to what would have been the first 'double bagel' victory of his international career. So polite with a microphone, Nadal has been a brute with his racket, every one of those whippy forehands loaded with topspin and menace.

On the Cote d'Azur, at his favourite tournament, this was the old Rafa, the player who won four consecutive French Opens until his unexpected defeat last season, the man who once went undefeated on the scorched earth for 81 matches.

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In Nadal's opinion, this was the best week of tennis he has produced in a long time, "and the results, they have been unreal", as he dropped a total of just 14 games from his five matches at this Masters-level tournament.

Since Prince Albert succeeded his father in 2005, he has only presented the trophy to one man. It was an emotional day for Nadal, as he won his first singles title since his victory at Rome's Foro Italico last May, and became the first man to score six trophies on the Riviera since an Englishman, Reggie Doherty, more than a century ago.

This tournament is just the start of the clay-court season, and the French Open does not begin in Paris for more than a month yet, but already thoughts are turning to Roland Garros. If Nadal plays like this, he will win the Coupe des Mousquetaires, having experienced defeat in Paris for the first time last season when he lost to Sweden's Robin Soderling in the fourth round. Roger Federer, beware.

Verdasco, on his first appearance in a Monaco final, was perhaps fortunate to have got on the scoreboard at all with that hold of serve at the beginning of the second set, as Nadal had break points in that game that he did not convert. For Verdasco to have had any chance of defeating Nadal, he would have needed to have been playing the best tennis of his life, to have been striking everything off the sweet-spot. And Verdasco plainly wasn't. Even his forehand, which is supposedly his best shot, was malfunctioning, with a number of his strokes landing halfway up the net.

After Verdasco was broken for the first time in the second set, to go 1-2 down, he walked back to his chair while waving both arms, which appeared to be an impression of a bird flapping his wings. Not long after that 'birdie of desperation', Verdasco performed a 'teapot of exasperation', placing his hands on his hips, and then, after he had just lashed a forehand into the net to drop serve once more, the crowd whistled at him.

In all, Verdasco made 32 unforced errors on one of the most excruciating afternoons of his professional life. Verdasco had lost his previous nine matches against his friend, his countryman and his fellow leftie: the 10th defeat was worse than anything that had come before.

Nadal, who missed the 2004 tournament with injury, has not lost here since 2003, when he was 16. This victory extended his undefeated run in Monaco to 32 matches. An astonishing week of clay-court tennis.

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