Rafael Nadal's extraordinary 2017 continued as he beat Dominic Thiem 7-6 (10-8) 6-4 to claim the Madrid Open title for the fifth time.
The 'king of clay' is unbeaten on his favourite surface this year, and took his record to 15-0, as he added to the titles he has recently collected in Monte Carlo and Barcelona.
But the fourth-seeded Spaniard was given a thorough examination by Thiem, who played a full part in a classy final packed with fine shot-making.
Thiem is still in the early stages of what promises to be a superb career and the Austrian held sway early on, unleashing a string of punishing ground strokes to break the Nadal serve.
But the Spaniard broke back for 3-3 in typically gutsy fashion, winning an epic rally to set up break point and converting when Thiem netted a volley.
Nadal went on to go 40-0 up when Thiem served at 5-6 but the Austrian reeled off a string of scintillating winners and saved all three set points.
That set for the stage for a thrilling tie-break, in which Nadal led 5-3 before losing his way, only to recover and save a pair of Thiem set points.
Both players were producing some brilliant winners but Nadal eventually took the breaker 10-8 when Thiem's usually trusty forehand flew just long to end a set which had lasted almost an hour and a half.
That felt like a critical moment and Nadal went on to break in the first game of the second set, before backing it up by holding for 2-0 after a lengthy game.
Thiem continued to fight bravely and, facing two match points when he served at 3-5, he conjured up some of his best tennis of the match to hold.
He continued his resurgence in the next game and forced four break-back opportunities but Nadal, not renowned as a huge server, came up with some big ones when it mattered.
And, having set up a fourth match point, the 30-year-old steered a backhand volley away for a winner, before sinking to his knees in delight.
A 14-time Grand Slam champion, Nadal is now strong favourite to collect a 10th French Open crown next month, and this victory also moves him above Roger Federer to fourth in the world rankings.
He had landed a first win over Novak Djokovic for three years on Saturday and has now equalled Djokovic's record of 30 Masters Series titles.
