The coronation is complete, with Rafael Nadal confirming his status as the undisputed new king of tennis with a gripping victory over Roger Federer in Sunday's night's blockbuster Australian Open final.

In another titanic battle between tennis's two greatest rivals, Nadal became the first Spaniard to win the Open with a heartstopping 7-5 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-2 triumph in four hours and 23 minutes at Rod Laver Arena.

And in denying Federer a record-equalling 14th grand slam crown with his fifth consecutive victory over the Swiss, perhaps Nadal took his own step towards tennis immortality.

At just 22 , the world No.1 now owns six majors.

Federer had just one in his trophy cabinet at the same age.

Maybe it is time to start pondering whether Nadal - and not Federer - might end his career as the best player ever.

Even if Federer recovers from this latest body blow to eventually match and then surpass Pete Sampras's benchmark 14 slams, Nadal must be feeling better placed to complete the coveted career sweep of the sport's four major championships.

His watershed victory at Melbourne Park, following his four French Open wins and grasscourt success over Federer at Wimbledon last year, leaves the US Open as the only major title missing from the indominatable Spaniard's CV.

The final frontier for Federer, though, has never looked further away than after his demoralising 6-1 6-3 6-0 loss to Nadal at Roland Garros last June - and now this.

While the red dirt of Paris remains Federer's kryptonite, Nadal no longer shows the slightest weakness on the faster surfaces.

He boasted a tour-leading 46-10 record on hard courts in 2008 and has now added the Open trophy to the Olympic gold medal he won in Beijing.

Federer had won 72 of his past 74 matches at the hardcourt slams, but Nadal shattered his aura of invincibility on Sunday night to join Andre Agassi as the only other man in the 41-year professional era to secure slams on three different surfaces.

Having bagged six slams in his first 20 major appearances and established a 13-6 edge over Federer in their career series, it seems only injury or an astonishing reversal of form can stop Nadal from continuing his own relentless pursuit of Sampras's record haul.

Although Federer gallantly pushed the final into a fifth set, he was ultimately left to rue managing to convert only four of 17 break-point chances in the first three sets.

He blew a 4-2 and 30-15 lead in the opening set before recovering from a break down in the second to level the match.

The third set was full of tension.

Backing up from his five-hour, 14-minute semi-final triumph over Fernando Verdasco - the longest match in Open history - Nadal required a leg massage after holding serve for 3-2.

He then had to stave off a total of six break points in the ninth and 11th games before Federer saved a set point in the 12th game with an unreturnable serve.

But a mistake-riddled tiebreaker from Federer gifted Nadal a two-sets-to-one advantage.

Refusing to yield, Federer struck back with the decisive break in the sixth game of the fourth set before firing down an unreturnable serve on set point to put the match back on level terms.

The writing was on the wall, though, for Federer when he dumped a forehand into the net to drop serve to fall behind 3-1 in the fifth set.

It was all over for the world No.2 when, defending his third match point, he flayed a forehand long, prompting Nadal to fall on his back in elation - just as he had done after burying Federer at Wimbledon.