Rafael Nadal won an historic fourth successive Monte Carlo Masters title on Sunday as he defeated Roger Federer, the world No1, 7-5, 7-5 in the latest instalment of their epic rivalry.

The 21-year-old triple French Open champion came back from 0-4 down in the second set to achieve his third successive final victory over Federer in the principality and his 22nd win in a row in the tournament. It was also his ninth win in 15 career meetings with the world’s top player and his seventh in eight claycourt clashes.

The last man to win four Monte Carlo titles in a row was New Zealand’s Anthony Wilding in 1914 but Nadal, who now has 24 career titles, is the first man to complete the feat in the Open era.

“It’s hard to imagine winning this title for four years in a row,” Nadal said. “But Roger played a great match. We always have good finals.”

Federer, who was laid low by glandular fever earlier this year and lost his Australian Open title, was full of praise for his opponent.

“I have to congratulate Rafa. It seems to be the same thing every year here,” he said. “He played great but I have to be happy with my tournament especially since I could have lost in the first round."

The two great rivals shared breaks in the first two games before the Swiss carved out three cruical break points in the seventh by twice enticing Nadal into the net and stunning his opponent with a couple of sweetly-struck volleys.

The top seed grabbed the break, and a 4-3 lead, when Nadal, off balance, could only send a lob long. However, the 21-year-old Nadal again retrieved the break, helped by a fortunate net cord which wrong-footed the advancing Federer, to pull level again.

Nadal was now in the ascendancy and created two set points in the 12th game when Federer, who hit 20 unforced errors to his opponent’s 11 in the opening set, unleashed a sloppy backhand. The set was the Spaniard’s after 51 minutes when he met a deep Federer volley with a sliced backhand of his own.

Federer, who had been within two points of a shock defeat in his opening match against another Spaniard, Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, the world No137, broke Nadal in the first game of the second set, backed it up with a hold and then appeared to take a firm grip on the set by repeating the feat for a 4-0 lead.

Nadal, though, had far from conceded the match was destined for a deciding set and reeled off four games in a row himself. Both men then held but Federer cracked in the 12th game and handed Nadal the title with a loose backhand.

In the end, the error count of 44 to Federer compared to just 20 for Nadal proved too large an obstacle for the Swiss to overcome.