Federer beats Nadal to win third Miami Open title

Roger Federer on Sunday overcame long-term rival Rafael Nadal to win the Miami Open for the third time and continue his remarkable start to the season.

The 35-year-old built on January’s Australian Open win and last month’s Indian Wells success with a convincing 6-3 6-4 win over the Spaniard.

The pair shared 10 break points in the opening set, with Federer the only man to take one to crucially move 5-3 up.

He exuded control throughout, breaking at 4-4 in the second and serving out.

A sweeping backhand down the line in the final game summed up the confidence which poured from the champion from start to finish.

It helped him to move to an 11-match winning streak and improved his match record to 19 wins and just one defeat in 2017.

A fourth straight win over Nadal — his longest winning streak in their 13-year professional rivalry — also makes Federer the oldest winner of the Miami Open.

He looked cool and calm throughout and his dominance this year is perhaps all the more remarkable given he took six months off through the second half of the 2016 season.

It was reported that the time off was for him to recover from a knee injury.