Rafael Nadal and Justine Henin each made it three titles in a row in 2007, the Spaniard becoming the first man since Björn Borg to achieve the feat while the Belgian was the first woman to do so since Monica Seles.

Rafael Nadal and Justine Henin were crowned French Open champions – again. For the third time in a row, no less. The Spaniard's achievement was perhaps the more impressive of the two, since Henin was able to stroll to victory as the competition simply melted before her. 21-year-old Nadal however was at his imperious best in 2007, and this despite the fact that his unbeaten run of 81 wins on clay came to an end just before Roland Garros began with a defeat at the hands of Roger Federer in the final at Hamburg. Certain people thought that the Swiss world number one's first win in six tries against "Rafa" on the Majorcan's favourite surface would serve to demoralise the reigning French Open champion and herald a new era in clay court tennis...

Roger only manages 17 games, as in 2006

But it was not to be. As Rafa said so himself, 2007 was probably "my best Roland Garros". At 21, he secured a hat-trick of titles that make him look absolutely invincible on the slow red surface. The Spaniard did not drop so much as a set on his way to the final, despite the best efforts of Paul-Henri Mathieu, who pushed the king of clay for the second year in a row. Novak Djokovic held out hope of knocking the Majorcan off his perch in the semis, but he met the same fate as the others, losing 7-5 6-4 6-2. And then came Federer, in a much anticipated rerun of the 2006 final – the first time since Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall had battled it out for the French Open title in 1968 and 1969 that both finalists had repeated.

And once again, the king of clay got the better of the world's foremost player, giving Spain their 11th men's singles title at the French – the most for any country (along with Australia and USA). Nadal again won in four sets (6-3 4-6 6-3 6-4 in 3 hours and 5 minutes), losing the same number of games (17) as the previous year. Federer made no excuses for his defeat, but this second loss seemed to hit him harder than the first. "I'm very disappointed," he commented. "It's tough to think that I'll have to wait another year before I get a chance to try to win here again. I had my chances here. I know I can beat him." The Federer-Nadal rivalry looks set to run and run…

In the women's draw however, there was sadly no such battle for supremacy. In the year that the women were awarded parity with the men in prize money, there was no rivalry, no highlights, no sparkle. As in 2006, Justine Henin went through the entire fortnight without dropping a set, becoming the first women's champion in the open era to win consecutive titles without conceding a single set. In fact the Belgian only dropped 38 games over her seven matches, which speaks volumes about the quality of her game.

"Juju" wins one for her family

In the final, "Juju" found herself up against Serbia's Ana Ivanovic, sixth in the world and playing in her first Grand Slam final at the age of 19. The Belgrade beauty brought a certain sparkle to the tournament and wowed the crowds with wins over her Russian rivals Svetlana Kuznetsova and Maria Sharapova in the quarters and semis respectively. When it came to the final however, her broad shoulders were not up to the task and poor Ana froze. 6-1 6-2 was the end result, in a little over an hour's play littered with unforced errors from the young Serbian.

Henin, on the other hand, looked as serene as ever on her favoured clay. Serena Williams in the quarter-finals was the only woman to run her close, and even then the match ended 6-4 6-3 in the Belgian's favour. The Belgian then faced another Serbian in the semis, but Jelena Jankovic was swept aside 6-2 6-2 by a tidal wave of winners.

While this was Henin's fourth French Open title and sixth Slam, it was very different from the rest. "I feel like this is my first title. I've had a lot on my plate these past few months and I had to step back on my own in order to start moving in the right direction again," said Justine, referring to her separation from her husband at the start of the year. The emotion was plain for all to hear in her voice, particularly when she addressed her family (a father, two brothers and a sister) with whom she had reconciled just before the tournament began after years spent apart. "I missed you all," said Justine, her voice barely holding up as she celebrated a French Open title she will certainly never forget…