Spanish sensation Rafael Nadal celebrated his 19th birthday in stunning style on Friday when he crushed Roger Federer's dream of Grand Slam history with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win to storm into the French Open final. The fourth seed will face unseeded Argentinian Mariano Puerta, who put out Russian 12th seed Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 5-7, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, on Sunday as he attempts to become the first man since Mats Wilander in 1982 to win the title here on his debut.
The victory was also Nadal's 23rd in a row in a season which has already seen him claim five claycourt titles. It also put an end, at least for another year, to Federer's hopes of becoming only the sixth man in history to win all four Grand Slam tournaments.
Friday's defeat was only Federer's third since August last year.
"It's incredible to be in the final and beat the number one in the world," said Nadal.
Nadal, playing in his first Roland Garros, had come into the match having given Federer an almighty fright in their last clash in the final of the Miami Masters in April.
He had led by two sets to love and was within two points of victory before the Swiss master struck back for a thrilling five-set win.
But that was on a hard court and Nadal had arrived in Paris having clinched five claycourt titles already in 2005 and went into Friday's semi-final on a 22-match winning streak.
A strangely subdued and tentative Federer never settled into a rhythm in an error-strewn opening set losing his service four times on the Philippe Chatrier Court.
He was broken in the first and fifth games as he quickly fell 4-1 down with point after point being given away by a succession of wild forehands.
Federer broke back to 2-4 but then was broken again to slip 2-5 down with another loose forehand.
Nadal too struggled to truly impose himself.
He squandered two set points as he surrendered the next service game to lead 5-3 but, incredibly, the world number one was unable to take advantage of this lifeline.
Federer was broken again in the decisive ninth game when he netted a simple volley and the opening set was Nadal's after 34 minutes.
It was the first time in this year's tournament that the top seed had dropped a set but, in keeping with his position as the best player of his generation, he was soon back in control.
Two breaks took him to 4-1 and a love service game made it 5-1 before Nadal stopped the rot in the eighth game to cut the deficit to 3-5.
However, Federer levelled the tie by taking the second set 6-4 when Nadal netted a backhand return.
The Spaniard then edged ahead with a break, courtesy of a vicious smash, to lead 4-2 in the third but was unable to hammer home his advantage by handing the break back in the seventh game.
However, in the tenth game, Nadal pinned back Federer behind the baseline on his third set point and unleashed a brutal, running forehand to clinch the third set 6-4.
A break each took the score to 3-3 in the fourth set before a woeful Federer backhand gave Nadal another break to lead 5-3.
Nadal went to two match points and clinched a memorable victory after 2hr 47min when Federer hit another wild forehand long.
COLLATED RESULTS (xdenotes seeded player):
MEN'S SINGLES (Semi-finals): Rafael Nadal (ESP x4) bt Roger Federer (SUI x1) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; Mariano Puerta (ARG) bt Nikolay Davydenko (RUS x12) 6-3, 5-7, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
WOMEN'S DOUBLES: (Semi-finals): Cara Black/Liezel Huber (ZIM/RSA) bt Corina Morariu/Patty Schnyder (USA/SUI x8) 6-4, 6-2; Virginia Ruano Pascual/Paola Suarez (ESP/ARG x1) bt Nadia Petrova/Meghann Shaughnessy (RUS/USA x5) 6-2, 6-4.
MIXED DOUBLES (Final): Daniela Hantuchova/Fabrice Santoro (SVK/FRA) bt Martina Navratilova/Leander Paes (USA/IND x6) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
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