( CNN ) -- Rafael Nadal 's status as the world 's top tennis player may have dimmed slightly with two recent final defeats , but the Spaniard showed again on Sunday that he is the man to beat on clay . The 24-year-old extended his record of most successive titles in an ATP Tour event with his seventh success in Monte Carlo , boosting his leading tally of Masters Series crowns to 19 . Nadal beat fourth-seeded compatriot David Ferrer 6-4 7-5 in the final as he shook off successive losses on hard-court surfaces to the pretender to his throne , Novak Djokovic , to claim his 44th career title and the $ 630,000 first prize . He has won 30 of those on clay , putting him equal third in the post-1968 Open Era list alongside compatriot Manuel Orantes and Bjorn Borg . `` Rafa is incredible on clay . I mean , he 's everywhere at the same time . He 's the best player on clay in history , '' Ferrer told the tournament 's official web site . Djokovic , unbeaten in 2011 , missed this tournament due to a knee injury but the Serbian is expected to line up alongside Nadal at the Madrid Masters at the start of next month . Nadal won that event last year as he went through the clay season unbeaten , culminating in his fifth French Open triumph . That run saw him beat Ferrer in the final of the Rome Masters , and he again denied the 29-year-old a 1,000-point haul in Monte Carlo on Sunday as he avenged his defeat at the Australian Open quarterfinals in January . Ferrer dropped serve as early as the third game , but the world No . 6 broke back immediately as both players made uncharacteristic errors that would be symptomatic of a match also featuring moments of brilliance . Nadal broke again in the fifth game and won the opening set in 70 minutes . He won against serve in the third game of the second set before Ferrer fought back to lead 5-4 , but Nadal broke him again to go 6-5 up and sealed victory when his opponent netted on the second match-point . Nadal 's only defeat in Monte Carlo came at his first appearance in 2003 . Is Sharapova back as a real contender ? Meanwhile , Russia ended Italy 's Fed Cup reign by reaching the final of the women 's teams event with a comprehensive 5-0 victory on Sunday . The home team led 2-0 after the opening day in Moscow , and world No . 3 Vera Zvonareva put her country into the title match for the first time since her last appearance in the tournament in 2008 by beating Roberta Vinci 6-4 6-2 . With the tie over , Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova stepped in for Saturday 's singles winner Svetlana Kuznetsova to hand Sara Errani her second defeat as the Russian triumphed 7-6 ( 7-5 ) 7-6 ( 7-4 ) . Pavlyuchenkova and Ekaterina Makarova then sealed the whitewash , beating Alberta Brianti and Maria-Elena Camerin 7-6 ( 7-3 ) 6-1 in the doubles . Italy had won the title the past two years , but went into this match without top-ranked players Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta . Four-time champions Russia will play the Czech Republic in the final after the other semifinal in Belgium went to the deciding doubles rubber after both teams won a singles tie on Sunday . Czech No . 1 Petra Kvitova gave her country a 2-1 lead in Charleroi with a 7-5 4-6 2-6 victory over Yanina Wickmayer , Belgium 's top-ranked player in the absence of injured world No . 2 Kim Clijsters . But 106th-ranked Kirsten Flipkens leveled the score again by beating Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova 6-2 6-3 . Zahlavova-Strycova then paired up with Iveta Benesova to beat Flipkens and Wickmayer 6-4 6-4 to seal a 3-2 win . Czechoslovakia won the title five times but not since separating into two nations following the Velvet Revolution in 1989 .
Rafael Nadal wins seventh consecutive Monte Carlo title , beating David Ferrer in final . World No . 1 bounces back after two Masters Series final defeats in the U.S . He extends his record total of Masters 1000 titles to 1 after winning 6 -4 7-5 . Russia 's Fed Cup reign ends after 1 -0 defeat by Italy in semifinal of women 's event .