Nadal breaks through on grass

Rafael Nadal claimed his first career grass-court title Sunday, defeating Novak Djokovic, 7-6 (5), 7-5, in the Queen’s Club final in London to become the first Spaniard to win on grass in 36 years.

It was the French Open champion’s third win in the last three tournaments over the second-seeded Djokovic, following semifinal victories in Hamburg and at Roland Garros. Andres Gimeno was the last Spaniard to win on grass, at Eastbourne in 1972.

Nadal is also the first player to win at Roland Garros and Queen’s Club in the same year since Ilie Nastase in 1973.

“This week was amazing for me,” Nadal said.

Early on, Djokovic threatened to sweep the top-seeded Nadal aside in the same manner as his 6-1, 6-0 demolition of David Nalbandian in the semifinals.

Djokovic survived a break point in the opening game and then took a 2-0 lead on his fourth break point when he forced a forehand error from Nadal. Djokovic earned a break point for a 4-0 lead, but Nadal righted himself by striking a cross-court forehand winner and going on to beak Djokovic in the fifth game.

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Roger Federer won his 10th title on grass to match Pete Sampras’ total, beating Philipp Kohlschreiber, 6-3, 6-4, in the Gerry Weber Open final in Halle, Germany.

Federer, who sailed through the Wimbledon warmup tournament without losing his serve, ran his record unbeaten run on grass to 59 matches.

Kohlschreiber hit a backhand into the net after a long rally to end the match in 73 minutes, giving Federer his 55th career title.

“I’m really excited; I think that’s the first time in my career I won a title” without losing serve, Federer said. “That was very special -- and I’m very proud to keep my streak going.”

In fact, Federer also won a tournament in Doha, Qatar, in 2005 without being broken.

Federer, who raised his record to 10-0 in grass finals, won Halle for the fifth time. The previous four were followed by Wimbledon triumphs three weeks later.

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Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko recaptured the Warsaw Open title when he beat second-seeded Tommy Robredo, 6-3, 6-3, in the final in Poland.

Davydenko won the clay-court tournament in 2006, and Robredo won it last year.

The Russian broke Robredo three times in the first set and gave up his serve once. He needed only one break in the second, saving five break points en route to his third ATP title of the year and 14th of his career. Davydenko lost only one set in the tournament.

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Second-seeded Maria Kirilenko won the Torneo Barcelona with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over wild card Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in Spain.

Kirilenko, playing the sixth WTA Tour singles final, won her second title following a victory in April at Estoril, Portugal.

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Top-seeded David Ferrer beat Dutch wild card Jesse Huta Galung, 6-2, 6-3, to reach the second round of the Ordina Open in Den Bosch, Netherlands.

Sixth-seeded Mario Ancic ousted Ivo Minar, 6-1, 7-6 (0).