Nadal collects eighth Monte Carlo title

ROQUEBRUNE-CAP-MARTIN, France, April 22 (UPI) -- Rafael Nadal won his eighth consecutive Monte Carlo Rolex Masters with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

The win broke Nadal's seven-match losing strength against Djokovic -- all of those matches had taken place since early 2011 and all were finals.

But Sunday -- and Monte Carlo -- belonged to Nadal. The only game he lost in the second set was Djokovic's only break of the day but Nadal was up 4-0 in the set by then.

Nadal won three-quarters of the points in the match and 54 percent off Djokovic's serve. He had five breaks in eight receiving games.

Nadal, No. 2 in the world, improved to 44-1 overall in at the Monte Carlo Masters, where he has won his last 42 matches. He won all of his matches this year in straight sets and lost only 29 games over 10 sets.

The eight consecutive titles at Monte Carlo ties the ATP mark for most wins at the individual event. Guillermo Villas won at Buenos Aries eight straight times it was from contested in the 1970s and '80s.

Nadal has won a record 20 Masters-level tournaments, passing Roger Federer who was first to win 19. It was Nadal's first tournament win of the year and 47th ATP championship overall, which is 11th most.

He picked up more than $608,000 for the title, a figure that pushed his career winnings past the $47 million mark. He is second all time -- behind Federer who has won nearly $70 million -- on that list.