Rafael Nadal equalled Bjorn Borg's record of winning four successive French Open titles by thrashing world number one Roger Federer in straight sets in the final at Roland Garros on Sunday.

Nadal eased to his 28th unbeaten match at Roland Garros as he humbled the world number one 6-1 6-3 6-0 after one hour and 48 minutes on Philippe Chatrier Court.

The resounding triumph is also the first time since Borg's triumph in 1980 that a player has gone through the entire event without dropping a single set.

The Spaniard, seeded two, went into the clash as the favourite and proved far too formidable for Federer and his relentless hitting, superior touches of class and tireless running left his arch rival with little chance during all three one-sided sets.

In truth Federer was a shadow of his best and his alarming number of unforced errors and missed chances made life much easier for the 22-year-old Spaniard, who is no doubt the 'King of Clay'.

Nadal got off to the perfect start when earning a break point in the opening game of the match when he drilled a pinpoint forehand past Federer down the line. The top seed then lost his serve when hitting a cross-court shot wide and this would be a repeating theme of the encounter.

He broke again - this time to love - in the fourth game and now it was becoming clear the gulf in class between the players on this surface.

Federer, who had lost the previous two finals on the red clay in Paris, was growing increasingly frustrated with his repetitive mistakes and as the first set drifted by, Nadal broke for a third time to move 1-0 up.

The second set was a little tougher for Nadal as Federer fought back from two games down to restore parity with a break of his own, but that was the closest he would ever get to the awesome champion.

Relentless pressing by Nadal soon began to wear down Federer, who survived three break-point opportunities in the eighth game but could not repel a fourth as Nadal moved 5-3 ahead

In the eighth game, the Swiss successfully saved three break points as he dug deep to stay in touch but he failed to find the killer instinct and Nadal pounced on his fourth attempt with an off-balance two-handed backhand winner.

A half-hearted drop-shot attempt by Federer brought up double set point for Nadal at 15-40 in the next, and the 26-year-old's inconsistency was painfully apparent as he fired long on the next point to go two sets down.

The contest was now realistically over and from there Nadal powered towards the finish line with another three breaks of serve to complete his unstoppable march to another Roland Garros crown.

Fittingly, it was Borg who presented Nadal with the silverware on the podium after a match that marked the first time Federer had lost to him in straight sets at a grand slam event.

The manner of the defeat also saw Federer set a number of unwanted milestones. His capitulation resulted in the fewest number of games played in a Roland Garros final since 1977, and was the shortest final in terms of time on court since 1980.

Meanwhile, Nadal's final-set whitewash marked the first time since 1999 that Federer had lost a set to love on the professional tour.

"I did not expect a match like this," said Nadal.

"I played almost a perfect match, and Roger had more mistakes than usual.

"When I was playing, I didn't believe the match was going like that. I thought the match would be closer."

Federer must now wait at least another 12 months to achieve his goal of becoming just the sixth man in history to complete a career Grand Slam, but he remained gracious after his ninth defeat in 10 clay court meetings with Nadal.

"It's been a great tournament, to lose in the final is never fun but I will try again next year," said Federer, who committed 35 unforced errors in the match.

"I'm feeling good, looking forward to the end of the year and Wimbledon. But Rafa deserves it so much."