KING OF CLAY: Rafael Nadal has won 22 consecutive matches at Monte Carlo since losing to Guillermo Coria in the third round five years ago. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Twice, Roger Federer had commanding leads in their match and each time, Nadal battled back and prevailed.

The Spaniard yesterday won a historic fourth successive Monte Carlo Masters title as he defeated Federer 7-5, 7-5 in the latest instalment of their epic rivalry.

The 21-year-old three-time French Open champion came back from 0-4 down in the second set to achieve his third successive final victory over Federer in the principality and his 22nd consecutive win in the tournament.

It was the second year in a row that he won the tournament without dropping a set.

It was also his ninth win in 15 career meetings with the world's top player and his seventh in eight clay-court clashes.

The last man to win four Monte Carlo titles in a row was New Zealand's Anthony Wilding in 1914.

But, Nadal, who has 24 career titles, is the first man to complete the feat in the Open era.

The Spaniard has now won 22 consecutive matches at Monte Carlo since losing to Guillermo Coria in the third round five years ago.

Federer was the last person to take a set off Nadal in the 2006 final.

'It's hard to imagine winning this title for four years in a row,' said the Spaniard.

'But Roger played a great match. We always have good finals.'

Federer, who was laid low by glandular fever earlier this year and lost his Australian Open title, was full of praise for his opponent.

'I have to congratulate Rafa. It seems to be the same thing every year here,' he said.

'He played great but I have to be happy with my tournament, especially since I could have lost in the first round.'

The two great rivals shared breaks in the first two games before the Swiss carved out three crucial break points in the seventh by twice enticing Nadal into the net and stunning his opponent with a couple of sweet volleys.

The top seed grabbed the break, and a 4-3 lead, when Nadal could only send a lob long.

However, the Spaniard again retrieved the break, helped by a fortunate net cord which wrong-footed the advancing Federer, to pull level at 4-4.

Nadal was now in the ascendancy and created two set points in the 12th game when Federer, who hit 20 unforced errors to Nadal's 11 in the opener, unleashed a sloppy backhand.

The set was the Spaniard's after 51 minutes when he met a deep Federer volley with a sliced backhand of his own.

Federer, who had been within two points of a shock defeat in his opening match against another Spaniard, world No137 Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, broke Nadal in the first game of the second set and backed it up by holding serve to lead 2-0.

In a topsy-turvy final, the 12-time Grand Slam winner broke again to lead 3-0, held for 4-0 but then allowed his opponent to hit back to 4-4 on the back of two breaks of his own.

Both men then held on but Federer cracked in the 12th game and handed Nadal the title with a loose backhand.

The statistics told a depressing tale for Federer in the 1hr 43min final, where he sent down 44 unforced errors to Nadal's 20.

The Swiss' normally reliable forehand let him down as Nadal's doggedness pressured him into making a string of errors.

The world No 1 seemed poised to level the match after hitting some near-perfect winners down the line and taking a 4-0 lead in the second set.

Nadal even struggled to hold his serve in the fifth game, but then turned the match around.

Having seen Nadal rally back to 3-4, Federer's game fell apart in the eighth game when he hit four consecutive unforced errors to lose his serve to love.

A weak backhand gave Nadal the match point and he took it at the first opportunity, before sliding on his back and raising both fists in the air.

AGENCE-FRANCE PRESSE, ASSOCIATED PRESS