Rafael Nadal ties Federer at 20 Slams by beating Djokovic in Paris
Paris: Rafael Nadal tied Roger Federer with 20 Grand Slam titles by producing a nearly perfect performance against Novak Djokovic in the French Open final.
Nadal equalled long-time rival Federer for the most major singles tennis championships won by a man and added to his own record at Roland Garros with No 13 on the red clay, courtesty of a surprisingly dominant 6-0 6-2 7-5 victory over the No 1-ranked Djokovic on Sunday.
When Nadal ended it with an ace, he dropped to his knees, smiled widely and pumped his arms. He did not cede a set in his favorite tournament this year.
Nadal, No 2 in the rankings, improved to 100-2 at the French Open, including a combined 26-0 in semifinals and finals, and picked up his fourth consecutive title in Paris.
The 34-year-old left-hander from Spain previously put together streaks of four French Open championships from 2005-08, then five in a row from 2010-14, to go alongside his four trophies at the US Open, two at Wimbledon and one at the Australian Open.
Nadal is now even with Federer for the first time since each man had zero Slams to his name in 2003. Federer's first arrived at Wimbledon that year; Nadal, naturally, earned his first in France in 2005, by which point he trailed 4-0.
Djokovic's loss left him at 17 majors; had he won, the trio's standings would have read 20-19-18.
Nadal is the oldest French Open champion since 1972 and the more than 15 years between his first and most recent Grand Slam titles is the longest such span for a man.
This was the 56th installment of Nadal vs Djokovic, the most meetings between any pair of men in the professional era, and their ninth in a Grand Slam final, equalling Nadal vs Federer for the most.
Djokovic had won 14 of the last 18 matchups against Nadal, and led 29-26 overall, including a 6-3 6-2 6-3 win at the 2019 Australian Open final. Nadal allowed Djokovic one fewer game this time.
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Kidnapper arrested in Faridabad, bank manager rescued
Faridabad (PTI): A man was arrested here on Tuesday for allegedly abducting a bank manager for a ransom of Rs 5 lakh, police said.
On April 21, two armed men, including Bhupender (30), kidnapped Satish Kumar from his house in Ballabgarh’s Sector 62. They took him to Himachal Pradesh and demanded a ransom of Rs 50 lakh from his family, they said.
Later, the accused negotiated with Satish's family and asked for Rs 5 lakh for his release. They asked his family to deposit Rs 1 lakh in Satish's account and withdrew the money from different places using his debit card, police said.
The kidnappers asked Satish’s wife to bring the remaining Rs 4 lakh Kelly bypass in Ballabgarh. Police then laid a trap and arrested Bhupender, they said.
Bhupendra revealed that he was a tenant in Satish's house and lived there about 4 months ago. He then hatched a plan with his friend Ravindra to kidnap the bank manager for ransom, a senior police officer said.
He told police that Satish was with Ravindra in Mathura. Following this, a team went there and rescued the victim but the other accused managed to flee, police said.
They said two pistols, three live cartridges, a rope, Satish's vehicle used for kidnapping him and Rs 4 lakh cash were recovered from the kidnappers.
“Our teams are conducting raids to nab Ravindra and others,” said Sube Singh, spokesperson of Faridabad police.
