Roger Federer faced his biggest test but still rewrote tennis history. Brian Dick reports

Roger Federer survived a third-set scare to claim his fourth consecutive Wimbledon title, his eighth Grand Slam in all and improve his standing as one of the best players in the sport's history.

In eventually subduing his great rival Rafael Nadal, the Swiss superstar extended his unbeaten run on grass to 48 matches but more crucially joined the legendary quintet of Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Fred Perry and Ken Rosewall as a winner of eight major singles championships.

He still has some way to go before he can be compared to the prolific Pete Sampras, who amassed 14 in the 1990s and early part of this decade, but for the elegant 24-year-old it seems his place in the tennis pantheon is assured.

Despite making a fast start to this match, there were times when Federer's victory was not guaranteed, however, as Nadal dug deep and the Spaniard, in just his fifth grass court tournament, surprised many with the way he has adapted his game from his preferred surface of clay.

After a one-sided opening, Nadal bounced back into contention and took the next two sets to tiebreaks, winning the third to narrow Federer's 2-0 lead.

It was the first set the world No 1 has dropped since the third round of the 2005 championship but he managed to withstand the Span-iard's charge and close out for a 6-0, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 scoreline.

In the first set, however, it looked as though Federer would breeze it. Nadal was broken in each of his three service games, won just 12 points and was dismissed in a quick-fire 24 minutes.

The 20-year-old had not lost his serve for 80 consecutive games but he had no answer to the slice and spins employed by his more experienced opponent.

In the final reckoning it proved to be the difference between the two rivals.

"It was tough in the first set because he played differently to the other guys,"

Nadal said. "He played more slice and changed the game a lot. Then he broke me in my first game and that's tough for me. I didn't see the strategy of the game very well and it was tough to get to his level."

But after that there was not much between the world's top two players as the Majorcan broke in the first game of the second set and had the opportunity at 5-4 to draw level.

But instead of serving out he was broken to 15 as Federer sucked him to the net and made him play where he was less comfortable. Federer then went on to take the tiebreaker with his third set point.

The champion felt it was the defining moment. "That was maybe the key to the match because after that I played a very good tiebreaker and was up two-love," Federer said. "From then on it was hard for him as it was getting harder and harder for either player to break serve. That was the case until early in the fourth set when I broke him and took control of the match."

But not before he had lost a third set in which there was just one break point, to Nadal, and the younger man had begun to cause problems with his clubbing cross-court backhand.

The French Open champion dominated the next tie-break, treating the Federer serve with disdain for a 7-2 margin. At 2-1 in sets, the final could have become something of an ordeal for Federer but he upped the pace once more by winning four consecutive games to lead 5-2.

Although the 24-year-old was broken as he served for the championship ,he did not waste the second opportunity and eventually converted the first of his three match points to move to within six Grand Slam titles of his American idol Sampras. ..SUPL: