Unstoppable Nadal takes Olympic gold in tennis

SPANISH FORCE: Nadal has already won his fourth consecutive French Open and first Wimbledon title this year.

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Beijing: Spain's Rafael Nadal added Olympic gold to his glittering season collection as he destroyed Chilean Fernando Gonzalez in the men's singles final on Sunday.

Nadal, whose tennis domination will be confirmed when he becomes world number one for the first time on Monday, blew away the 2004 bronze-medallist 6-3, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 to claim his eighth title this year.

He is the first top-five player to take the men's title and the only Spanish champion after near-misses in 1992 and 1996. Nadal has already won his fourth consecutive French Open and first Wimbledon title this season.

"I just want to enjoy this moment because I'm having an unbelievable year," Nadal said.

"It's more than my best dreams so I want to enjoy the moment. I know how difficult it is to win these things, especially here. Winning for me is unbelievable."

The men's final had seemed a formality, such is Nadal's current form, and the muscular 22-year-old duly raced through the first set, breaking at 1-0 and taking the lead with a forehand winner.

Gonzalez blew his chance to get back into the match when he put a simple volley wide after creating two second-set points on Nadal's serve.

Nadal was never behind in the tie-break and he landed the knock-out blow by breaking at 2-1 in the third. He missed three match points on Gonzalez's serve before wrapping it up in the next game with a wide-angled forehand.

"It's a great goal -- I did it in Athens and now I did it here," said Gonzalez, who won doubles gold as well as singles bronze in 2004.

"The Olympics means really a lot to me. So that's why I'm really happy. I'm little bit sad about the match. But all things considered, I'm really happy.

Nadal, an anonymous doubles player at Athens 2004, claims Spain's first tennis gold after Jordi Arrese and Sergi Bruguera were losing finalists in 1992 and 1996 respectively.