Roger Federer survived a ferocious onslaught from Rafael Nadal to win his fifth consecutive Wimbledon singles title on Sunday, finally taming the inspired Spaniard 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-2.The normally serene Swiss looked about to crack under the strain when Nadal twice had chances to break serve in the fifth set but rediscovered his magic just in time.After smashing the ball away on his second match point Federer collapsed emotionally on Centre Court knowing he had equalled the five titles in a row of Bjorn Borg.The Swede, who won from 1976 to 1980, watched with 14,000 other transfixed spectators as battle raged in the sunshine for three hours 45 minutes, the perfect end to a rain-hit tournament.Only Federer, who now has 11 Grand Slam titles at the age of 25, knows how close he came to losing what will go down as the best Wimbledon men's final for many years.Nadal seemed poised to become the first man since Borg in 1980 to win the French Open and Wimbledon back to back when he stormed the fourth set and had a rattled Federer down 15-40 on two consecutive service games in the decider.
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