A Roman holiday for Rafael Nadal, as he defeated fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 7-5, 6-2 to win the Rome Masters crown. At the age of 23, Nadal already has equalled Andre Agassi's record of 17 titles in the Masters 1000 tournaments (the top level events below the four Grand Slam events).
If he decides to play in the Masters event in Madrid a week from now--and this is where his 2009 troubles started, as he lost the final to Federer after being stretched to the limit by Djokovic in the semifinal a day before--he could bag another. But Nadal was vocal a year ago complaining about this event's place in the schedule, so close to Roland Garros, and his difficulty adapting to the conditions there.
