Rafael Nadal (left) sprays champagne on Tommy Robredo after the Barcelona Open final on Sunday. (AP)

It was fitting, given the way that he conducted himself as a player, that Bjorn Borg should be among the first to congratulate Rafael Nadal after the Spaniard clinched his 47th consecutive win on clay on Sunday. Even more so since the 19-year-old’s 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 win over Tommy Robredo of Spain, which gave him a second consecutive Open Seat de Barcelona title, took him past the Swede into second place, behind Guillermo Vilas, of Argentina, in the Open-era list.

“I would like to congratulate Rafael,” Borg, the winner of five Wimbledon titles and six French Opens, said in a message given through the ATP. “He is a great player and is exciting to watch and I hope he wins Wimbledon.”

Victory at the All England Club may be a bit much to hope for, this year at least, but on clay Nadal remains unstoppable.

Robredo, the world No. 15, threw everything he had at Nadal but as so many have found before him, it was simply not enough as the teenager won his third title of the year and fifteenth in total.