Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal: The 3 Best encounters

#2 Internazionali BNL d’Italia final, Rome, 2006

Nadal and Federer, 2006.

In a month's time, it was the second final between these two to-be-legends. This time, it was the clay court in Rome, all set to host the Internazionali BNL d’Italia finals. This final lasted for more than five hours.

Federer was hitting points at the nets beautifully, but it was Nadal who was getting the more crucial ones. Federer won the first set 6-7(0), while Nadal won the second one with 7-6(5). The third set saw a lot of compassion for both the players, Nadal finally won it 6-4. But, soon, he lost the fourth set quite easily by 2-6.

The game was in the final set, the tournament was stretched up till the final set. Rafa's back-hand punches were stronger than ever, while the persistence from Roger was better than before.

With the score reading 6-4 in the favor of Federer, he got two game points. Two easy opportunities to win the title, but Roger missed them both. Now, it was Nadal's turn, as he came back into the game and went on to win the final set 7-6(5).

Here are the video highlights of this epic match:

This match cemented Rafa's love affair with the clay court. Federer, however, had lost only three matches in the whole year, all of them came against Nadal.