By Erik Gudris

Photo Credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

(April 22nd, 2012) With Rafael Nadal going for his eighth straight title at the same time Novak Djokovic was aiming for his eighth consecutive victory over the Spaniard, something had to give in today's final at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. But instead of a battle royale as hoped for by many, the meeting between the two top players in the world became something of a royal coronation for the "king" of Court Centrale.

With Nadal seen practicing his serve to great intensity before taking the court, it was clear that Nadal knew he would have to serve well and control the rallies in order to gain the upper hand against Djokovic. But what he didn't expect was that Djokovic would continue his ragged play from earlier in the week that saw him struggle against Alexandr Dolgopolov and in yesterday's semifinal versus Tomas Berdych.
 
In the third game of the opening set, two quick groundstroke errors from Djokovic gave Nadal an early break lead. With a look of determined focus, Nadal made sure he kept his own shots deep, often forcing Djokovic well beyond the baseline.

Despite displaying flashes of the stellar point construction that many have come to expect from the World No. 1, Djokovic appeared subdued on court and went on to rack up 14 unforced errors including an errant backhand that allowed Nadal to break him again to claim the set.

Nadal kept up his intensity in the second set when he again pounced on Djokovic in the second game to break him at 15-40. When Nadal went up 3-0, the outcome felt like a foregone conclusion especially after Nadal grinded down Djokovic in a trademark "Rafa" point that saw the Spanish star hit a stellar lob over the Serb to set up a winning forehand that gave Nadal a double break lead.

Djokovic was able to get one of the breaks back but there would be no momentum shift as Nadal broke right back at love. It was only then that Nadal gave one of his signature fist pumps to celebrate his lead.

Serving at 5-1, Nadal quickly earned two match points and closed out the match in style with an ace out wide to earn a 6-3, 6-1 victory for his eighth consecutive title in Monte-Carlo and his first title in 10 months since winning Roland Garros.

Nadal's stats tell the whole story as he hit a total of 16 winners, committed only 10 unforced errors and served a healthy 68% first serves on the day. Nadal also never dropped a set all week.

Nadal earned another accomplishment as his win netted him his 20th ATP Masters 1000 title, setting the record for any player on tour.