Record eighth title victory in Rome is ‘really specialissimo’ says Nadal

● Svitolina defeats Halep in women’s final

0 Rafael Nadal adopts his customary winning pose by biting the trophy following his 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 victory of Alexander Zverev. top-ranked Simona Halep in a 6-0, 6-4 win. “I dominated all the match,” Svitolina said.

Just like in last year’s final, Halep appeared bothered by an injury.

Halep called a trainer on to the court for an apparent back problem while trailing 2-3 in the second set ,then exited the court for treatment under a medical timeout.

“I was a little bit too stiff with my body and I couldn’t stay in the rallies,” Halep said. “The muscles were stiff. I couldn’t run.”

Last year, Halep rolled her ankle in the final and lost a set lead to Svitolina.

This time, Svitolina didn’t face a single break point in a match that lasted only 67 minutes. “It’s amazing that I could come and defend my title here,” Svitolina said.

“It’s really something very, very special for me.”

Halep said her physical problems were the result of a long three-set win over Maria Sharapova in the semi-finals a day earlier

“Every time I play against Sharapova the ball is coming very flat and I bend down a lot,” Halep said.

The fourth-ranked Svitolina became the first woman to defend her title at the Foro Italico since Serena Williams accomplished the feat in 2013 and 2014. The Ukrainian picked up a winner’s cheque of €507,000(£443,000) for her 12th career title.

Svitolina improved to 4-2 in her career against Halep, who had already secured the No 1 ranking for another week by reaching the semi-finals.

“She deserved to win for sure,” Halep said. “She didn’t miss. I missed.”

Svitolina, who has never made it beyond the quarterfinals at a major, was hesitant to predict anything for Paris.

“In a Grand Slam it’s very tricky,” she said. “But I’m definitely going to Roland Garros on a high note.” Simon Yates made it a hattrick of wins in the Giro d’italia on the 15th stage yesterday and the British rider consolidated his overall lead as the race heads into its final week.

After unsuccessfully attempting a similar move just moments earlier, Yates set off on a solo attack with 17 kilometres remaining. He looked back after a few metres and continued to accelerate.

Miguel Angel Lopez edged out Tom Dumoulin for second to lead a group of five over the line, 41 seconds behind Yates at the end of the 176-kilometre route through the Dolomites from Tolmezzo to Sappada. The gruelling leg had riders almost continuously climbing and descending.

“It was really hard from the bottom of the climb. I still felt good so I chose my moment to go,” said Yates, who was struggling to hold back tears. “They responded the first time but then I tried again and I gave it everything to get away. It’s fantastic.”

Yates is clearly on a different level to his rivals and it is hard to see anyone managing to wrestle the leader’s pink jersey from the Mitchelton-scott cyclist.

Yates extended his lead over defending champion Dumoulin to 2mins 11secs. Domenico Pozzovivo remained third, 2:28 behind.

Today is the Giro’s final rest day before the individual time trial, which is Dumoulin’s speciality.

“He can take two minutes out of me on the TT, on one stage. So it’s not over,” Yates said. “But I’m happy with what I did today.”

Chris Froome, having won Saturday’s iconic Monte Zoncolan stage, had a day to forget yesterday, slipping nearly five minutes behind Yates.