Second seed Rafael Nadal [Images] beat holder and top seed Roger Federer [Images] 7-5, 6-7, 6-3 in the final of the Hamburg Masters on Sunday.

The French Open champion had never won the title at the Rothenbaum, the only Masters Series on clay to have eluded the Spaniard, and lost to the Swiss world number one in last year's final.

With the retractable roof open on centre court, Federer began the match strongly, opening up a 5-1 lead and twice serving for the set.

But Nadal refused to lie down and reeled off the next six games to take the first set and then broke the Federer serve in the first game of the second.

The Swiss broke back twice and missed a chance to level the match serving at 5-3 but upped his game in the tiebreak, winning it 7-3.

Nadal got the crucial break in the fourth game of the decider and closed out the match with a whipped crosscourt backhand winner after just under three hours of play.

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